Piranha (1978).

Review #2270: Piranha (1978).

Cast: 

Bradford Dillman (Paul Grogan), Heather Menzies (Maggie McKeown), Kevin McCarthy (Dr. Robert Hoak), Keenan Wynn (Jack), Dick Miller (Buck Gardner), Barbara Steele (Dr. Mengers), Belinda Balaski (Betsy), Melody Thomas Scott (Laura Dickinson), Bruce Gordon (Colonel Waxman), Barry Brown (Trooper), Paul Bartel (Dumont), and Shannon Collins (Suzie Grogan) Directed by Joe Dante (#007 - Looney Tunes: Back in Action, #096 - Gremlins, #097 - Small Soldiers, #1494 - Gremlins 2: The New Batch, #1744 - The Howling, #2026 - Twilight Zone: The Movie)

Review: 

"We got a lot of bad comments about Piranha because we killed off all those summer campers and it wasn’t even the end of the movie, which was black humor then and kind of shocking. Today, I don’t think that would shock anybody. I think you are now dealing with an audience that is so much more sophisticated and aware of the cliches and tricks and tropes of the genre and you have to be on your toes in order to keep their interest."

Sure, any big film can inspire a few homages, and who better to get that through the line with Roger Corman? New World Pictures? Among other things, this was filmed around the same time as. Avalanche. Apparently, the budget for Piranha was reduced by $200,000 (essentially making it a production made for roughly under $700,000) prior to production in order to help give more resources to the disaster film Avalanche (which ended up being forgotten by audiences). The film had two credited writers: Richard Robinson and John Sayles. Sayles was brought in to re-write the film for its perceived failings as a script (according to one Dante interview, the original script showed a problem in getting people to actually get in the water). It was the first feature credit for Sayles, who had graduated from Williams College in the 1970s and quickly went to work writing articles and his own novel in Pride of the Bimbos before finding work with New World Pictures (one year after the release of this film, funds used from Corman paying Sayles to write scripts saw him direct/write Return of the Secaucus 7 on his way to a further career as writer/director, which included Dante's The Howling (1981). This was the second feature effort for director Joe Dante, who had gone from editing trailers for New World to co-directing Hollywood Boulevard (1976) with Allan Arkush. He went for the film when offered it as opposed to Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979), since Arkush expressed passion for wanting to do that. Dante would also co-edit Piranha, which he described as being extensive in his dedication to editing. The movie was released in August of 1978, nearly two months after Jaws 2. Apparently, Universal Pictures tried to file an injunction against the release of the film, but they dropped it when Steven Spielberg stated his approval of the film, one that he called "the best of the Jaws rip-offs". While the film was a relative success, Corman did not express interest in doing a sequel, but he sold the rights to people who were interested in doing so, which resulted in the 1982 US-Italian production of Piranha II: The Spawning, which had a young James Cameron for a film with only a hint of a cult audience. The original film has been remade twice, once for television in 1995 and the other with Piranha 3D, released in 2010 (which in turned had a sequel two years later).

There had been plenty of horror films involving killer creatures of the sea before, whether they tried to call themselves parodies such as Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961) or ecological threats such as Frogs (1972) or "Jaws ripoffs" such as Orca (coincidentally, Wynn was in that film, released in 1977). But Piranha makes its own mark in delight. It straddles the line between horror and amusement without straining itself in overwrought expression that can be credited to Dante and the company he had with him that wanted to make it more than just a "nature gone wild" movie. You don't really see that much of the piranhas in the film, but it has enthusiasm from a director who clearly grew up on Corman and monster movies and wanted to make one with as much fun as those (complete with name actor enjoyment from McCarthy, Wynn, and the always-on-point Miller). Dillman and Menzies prove to make an interesting pair together. I particularly like the haggard expressions that come from Dillman (amusingly, Dillman was picked because Peter Fonda rejected it because he wouldn't do the film unless it had good effects and it was taking too long). He just has the confidence to just roll with the lines given out involving little killer fish and being thrust into a conspiracy where maybe the real monsters are on the surface. Gordon and Steele provide quality presence in terms of scuzzy behavior on and off the surface, although Miller amuses the most in scuzzy nature for such a brief amount of screentime. The creature effects were done with a mix of mostly rubber piranhas (and some with a few metal teeth, as done by Phil Tippett, while Chris Walas and Rob Short did prosthetic limbs for biting. The movie could've just been a silly one with little commitment from its actors in creature features, but instead they managed to have one with energy, where even a little scene involving a stop motion creature (not a piranha) shows curiosity. The terror involving piranhas (who in real life have a varied diet beyond rare attacks on humans) is handled patiently for 95 minutes (I especially like the sound of the piranhas in their attacks) in carefully executed carnage and danger. The film serves as a representation of just what Dante has to offer in directing and moving around scenes with real belief present. It is a warm fun movie for the movie-lover in all of us that appreciate horror wherever they can find it.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Coming up in the next few days: Terrifier, 50s stuff, 70s stuff, 10s stuff...

Twilight Zone: The Movie.

Review #2026: Twilight Zone: The Movie.

Cast: 

Opening sequence: Albert Brooks (the Driver), Dan Aykroyd (the Passenger), and Burgess Meredith (Narrator)

"Time Out": Vic Morrow (Bill Connor), Doug McGrath (Larry), and Charles Hallahan (Ray)

"Kick the Can": Scatman Crothers (Mr. Bloom), Bill Quinn (Leo Conroy), Martin Garner (Mr. Weinstein), Selma Diamond (Mrs. Weinstein), Helen Shaw (Mrs. Dempsey), and Murray Matheson (Mr. Agee)

"It's a Good Life": Kathleen Quinlan (Helen Foley), Jeremy Licht (Anthony), Kevin McCarthy (Uncle Walt), Patricia Barry (Mother), and William Schallert (Father)

"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet": John Lithgow (John Valentine), Abbe Lane (Sr. Flight attendant), Donna Dixon (Jr. Flight attendant), John Dennis Johnston (Co-Pilot), and Larry Cedar (Gremlin)

Directed by John Landis (#328 - Trading Places, #410 - Coming to America, #513 - Spies Like Us, #1114 - Animal House, #1462 - The Blues Brothers, #1465 - An American Werewolf in London, #1699 - Blues Brothers 2000, and #1718 - The Stupids), 

Steven Spielberg (#126 - Close Encounters of the Third Kind, #168-#170, #302, #351, #480, #563, #573,  #642, #958, #1068, #1305, #1478, #1520, #1528, #1560, #1843, and #2000 - Duel), 

Joe Dante (#007 - Looney Tunes: Back in Action, #096 - Gremlins, #097 - Small Soldiers, #1494 - Gremlins 2: The New Batch, #1744 - The Howling) 

and George Miller (#380 - Mad Max, #392 - Happy Feet, #493 - The Witches of Eastwick, #707 - Mad Max 2, #781 - Mad Max: Fury Road)

Review:

The Twilight Zone, originally broadcast on CBS in 1959, is generally considered one of the best television shows of its time, if not one of the best ever. There were 156 episodes of the anthology series, with a good majority of them (92!) written by series creator (and presenter) Rod Serling. He had come up with the idea for an anthology series that would use its "science-fiction setting" to have more freedom to write what he felt. Technically, the show was not meant to be scary, but it just happened to have plenty of twists within a mostly consistent show. Providing a list of what episodes are the best seems futile, but here is a list of episodes that would be neat for one to check out if they want to see just what the show could do in its format (most are a half-hour long, minus the hour-long fourth season): "One for the Angels", "Walking Distance", "A Quality of Mercy", "Printer's Devil", and "One More Pallbearer" (one could also go for Serling's reported favorites in "The Invaders" and "Time Enough at Last"). Rod Serling had an interest in doing a Twilight Zone film for quite some time prior to his death in 1975. Various cast members that had appeared in an original episode appear in the film: Burgess Meredith, Patricia Barry, Peter Brocco, Murray Matheson, Kevin McCarthy, Bill Mumy, and William Schallert. The movie was marked by tragedy in the making of the first segment of the film due to an accident involving a helicopter crash during filming on July 23, 1982. Two children, Myca Dinh Le, Renee Shin-Yi Chen were hired to do a scene at night (under the table) that involved pyrotechnics and a helicopter. This resulted in an accident that saw the death of Morrow and the two children. Various people, which included Landis, were tried and ultimately acquitted on manslaughter charges in a trial that spanned 1986 and 1987. Of course, the tragedy as a whole sparked a movement for fire safety regulations and entertainment industry requirements, complete with a safety committee made by the Directors Guild of America about safety bulletins and a phone hotline. The film was released 40 years ago in June of 1983, and it was a mild success with audiences. It would inspire CBS (who had the rights to the show because Serling had sold it to them) to go forward with a second rendition of the show in 1985. After its end in 1989, two further shows came and went in the following decades (2002-2003 and 2019-2020). 

The opening segment (roughly eight minutes) features Albert Brooks and Dan Aykroyd in a car conversation that eventually talks about the show within the movie and the question of if one wants to see something "really scary"? It is, uh, a strange way to start a movie, mostly because when I think of Twilight Zone, I don't think, man suddenly finds a surprise in a car. But it is with two folks that I like, so there's that. Burgess Meredith, who appeared in classic episodes of the show such as "Time Enough at Last", introduces each story in narration, which is a nice tribute to Serling's previous method, although they do use Serling's voice for the ending as a whole. John Landis directed this sequence alongside the first segment in "Time Out". The segment, lasting roughly 18 minutes, involves a racist and resentful man that goes to a bar after being passed over for promotion that finds himself wrapped up in the past, more specifically places such as Nazi-occupied France, a racist Klan rally, or in Vietnam. Evidently, the segment is a mishmash of the classic stories "Back There" (namely the time travel) and "A Quality of Mercy", with the writer being none other than Landis.  The original scripted idea obviously couldn't be completed due to the tragedy that occurred, which apparently was meant to have a resolution that would've tried to find redemption for the racist that saw him try to help two children out of a helicopter attack in a Vietnamese swamp. Instead, it ends on him going through a frenzy of terrifying events before being sent off by a train despite yelling out to his friends that he can see out of the slats. As such, the story is mild because it requires a bit more bite than what is required to either reach a payoff of redemption...or the opposite, and a segment that doesn't even last the time of an actual TV episode isn't going to cut it. As such, Morrow is essentially trapped in a segment with an unavoidable pall over the entire thing, but you can see the glimmer in one part of the diner scene. There he is, blithering around with a dirty mouth, and for a moment you can see him for what he is beyond the epithets: a loser who really thought the world owed him one because of what he looks and sounds like "as an American". Intended redemption or not, there obviously was something that could've been done here beyond what you know.

"Kick the Can" (lasting roughly 21 minutes) is based on the third season episode of the same name originally written by George Clayton Johnson. The segment screenplay was written by Johnson, Richard Matheson, and Melissa Mathison. It was directed by Steven Spielberg. Apparently, he had plans for an ambitious segment before the helicopter tragedy led to him curtailing plans...for a remake of an episode that I honestly can't remember watching to begin with beyond the phrase "old people get young". It has been rumored that Spielberg, under contract but having lost the heart for the project due to the tragedy, made only a half-hearted effort here. All of this is meant to subside the actual thoughts of the story about "the day we stop playing is the day we start getting old", which I vaguely remember seeing in my neighborhood park when I was a kid. If the Landis segment could be thought of as perhaps a bit too short, the Spielberg segment can be best described as half-brained and half-effective. I can't tell what is more annoying, its cloying sense of "cheer" for such an average effort, or the very rumor of Spielberg half-assing a story just to get out of a dilemma. Crothers actually does provide a decent performance here, pulling some of the mysterious requirements necessary to make a story telegraphed to us in every step of the way not nearly as painful as it could be, and Quinn is at least a quality foil the basic arguments made involving the inevitability of age. By the time the segment gets to the ultimate decision made, the lesson put there is at least one that isn't sapped of hokum...and then of course Crothers does a fourth wall bit before leaving. As a whole, it's just an okay segment, one that makes you wonder if being the "light segment" of the film is really a compliment.

"It's a Good Life" (roughly 27 minutes long) is loosely based off the third season episode of the same name (as written by Serling that was based on a short story by Jerome Bixby). Matheson wrote the screenplay for this segment (which Serling had discussed prior to his death as writing a draft to make into a film), with Joe Dante serving as director. The story involves a lady schoolteacher finding the company of a young boy at a rural diner when she helps him after he is accosted only to then accidently back her car into his bike. She gives him a ride home and meets the rest of his family, who all seem nice. Heck, I like Kevin McCarthy, what could go wrong with his character presence? Despite having quite a hill to climb in trying to remake one of the most famous Zone episodes, Dante has provided something special here: an off-beat and weird segment that seems to take you on a trip of not just sight and sound but of mind. It is a delightful and deranged segment, headlined by a useful cast. I of course dig the presences around the supporting folks like McCarthy, ever the panicky one in trying to keep appearances as essentially the elder statesmen of character presences here, made clear when he tries to figure just how a magic trick with an imaginative boy is going to go. Quinlan and Lichy make quite an effective pairing in the realm of dealing with such a funhouse of creativity that invites a tragic quality not present in the earlier adaptation (of course, since this adaptation uses an eight-year-old rather than a six-year-old, why not?), which seems like a suitable twist. It's a neat story as a whole.

"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (22 minutes) is a remake of the story of the same name (based on the short story by Richard Matheson, who also wrote the screenplay for this segment) that had premiered in the fifth season of the show, which I'm sure you remember had William Shatner as star. George Miller serves as director here. The key change is to the circumstances of the man in the predicament of seeing a gremlin on the plane he is flying in: the TV episode had him travel with his wife after just spending time in a sanitarium while the film features a man with a fear of flying traveling alone. The segment is all about the tension that comes with what you know of the person observing a nightmare right in front of their eyes that obviously could be just our nightmare too: what if you saw something that no one could see that could lead to your death? The gremlin costume is the biggest evident difference in adaptation, mainly because it actually looks quite spooky in the moments it is seen in the dark rainy night, which only add to the fear portrayed excellently by Lithgow. This segment is probably the one that hews closest to the original spirit of the TV episode, which either makes it the best segment of the film or a pretty close second and one can't go wrong there. The movie begins and ends with the same man asking if one wants to see something really scary. Friends of anthologies with varying quality such as O. Henry's Full House (1952) or Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) will be just fine with this movie, one that will have enough peaks and lows to make the 101-minute runtime seem useful to perhaps step further into the realm of the Twilight Zone and see just how fun anthology can be in the right hands.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

The Howling.

Review #1744: The Howling.

Cast: 

Dee Wallace (Karen White), Patrick Macnee (Dr. George Waggner), Dennis Dugan (Chris Halloran), Christopher Stone (R. William "Bill" Neill), Belinda Balaski (Terri Fisher), Kevin McCarthy (Fred Francis), John Carradine (Erle Kenton), Slim Pickens (Sam Newfield), Elisabeth Brooks (Marsha Quist), Robert Picardo (Eddie Quist), Margie Impert (Donna), Noble Willingham (Charlie Barton), James Murtaugh (Jerry Warren), Jim McKrell (Lew Landers), Kenneth Tobey (Older Cop), and Dick Miller (Walter Paisley) Directed by Joe Dante (#007 - Looney Tunes: Back in Action, #096 - Gremlins, #097 - Small Soldiers, #1494 - Gremlins 2: The New Batch)

Review: 

"We have a fondness for this kind of thing. They're our fairy tales. The trick, then as now, is to try to find a way to connect this material to people who are younger and don't have a background in the classics."

As the saying goes, everyone is entitled to one good scare. And as it turns out, there was plenty of room to expand on the legend of the werewolf, mostly because there had been quite a lull in meaningful story-telling since the most prominent wolf film came with The Wolf Man (1941). Of course, there had been a handful of werewolf films in the subsequent four decades, such as 1957's I Was a Teenage Werewolf (released by American International Pictures, an inspiration for filmmakers like Dante), but the 1980s seemed like the best time to let loose with a beastly tale for the times. 1981 ended having three major horror features with werewolves as the subjects for general release: The Howling (released in March), Wolfen (released in July), and An American Werewolf in London (released in August); while An American Werewolf in London was the most successful of the group, this film has managed to endure just as much in its own perspective on the werewolf that has worthy effects and cast to work well four decades after its release. To start with, this film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Gary Brandner, released in 1977 (the first of three in the series). However, production of the film resulted in various scripts and directors going through to the point where it became a loose adaptation, complete with Jack Conrad being replaced by Joe Dante while Terence H. Winkless was replaced as script-writer for John Sayles (who had worked with Dante on Piranha in 1978); a cursory glance of the source material notes similarities within stark differences: the circumstances of the opening attack (and occupation) are altered, alongside the fact that the setting was a town as opposed to a patient resort (complete with a certain connection); lastly, while both end with two characters getting out of the town, each have different ways of inducing an open ending (in other words, the last line is both a gag and bait). Strangely enough, Brandner would co-write the screenplay to Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf (1985), the first of seven sequels to this film, which had loose continuities with each other that resulted in two theatrical releases and the rest direct-to-video (perhaps it was irony that this happened at all, since Dante apparently stated in a Q&A that he disliked the book...with Brandner in the audience). 

A movie with character presences like McCarthy, Carradine, AND Pickens? Shoot, sign me up for 91 minutes. Sure, the in-joke references added by Dante to stuff like previous horror films (or naming characters after horror directors) or with certain wolf names is fine, but the curiosity will vary depending on one's taste, much in the same way one wonders just what a werewolf desires from humans: cattle or prey. Of course, it really is about what it means to deal with one's animalistic desires in the guise of a werewolf movie that actually plays like a slasher for a significant amount of time (as devised by Dante, who wanted to bring in the supernatural elements slowly); having a protagonist that isn't a werewolf probably helps in freshening up the expectations, too. Wallace does fine in balancing the long and winding road that comes with seeing weirdos at every turn, whether that means "self-help" folks or lingering nightmares of reality, which she sells better in its second half. Macnee pops in from time to time with his take on dignified quackery that seems pretty relevant now when it comes to the line of what is the best way to spend time with desires of animals. Dugan does okay with a cursory role (one that in an older movie perhaps would have had him as the lead focus), at least until the climax anyway; Balaski is also fine, but anyone that can handle terror with wolves like a champ is worthy in my book. Honestly, it is the supporting folks that seem to generate more curiosity (although Stone and his stoic timing, wolf or not, is close), which comes out best with the ever-casual Pickens or the spry nut in Carradine, while Brooks captivates well in presence (without saying much) and Picardo makes a worthy adversary in looming creepiness. 

Rob Bottin was responsible for the werewolf transformation scenes (which involved humanoid creatures rather than the desire of the studio to use "large wolves", as quoted by Dante). If you remember, there was also another werewolf film in 1981 with An American Werewolf in London, and the effects man for that was Rick Baker, who had decided to help with the effects for this film as a consultant and designer (since London had been stuck in pre-development for nearly a decade); when the other film actually did start to ramp into being made, Baker left to do that film (while giving advice to Bottin). The effect involved air bladders (as suggested by Dick Smith), animatronics, and spirit gum that had the actor in the chair (Picardo) being there for ten hours (of course, there were also parts that had to be done with animation and stop motion, although it isn't as lengthy is usage); Bottin also helped to supervise the way his effects would be shot and lit, for what its worth. While Baker would end up being the winner of the first Academy Award for Best Makeup (while Bottin didn't even get a nomination, which instead went to Stan Winston for Heartbeeps), one can certainly appreciate each effects man for what they managed to do with making their mark count in conviction when it comes to matching the mood of what is required from each transformation: one that looks painful and one that looks prideful. As a whole, I admire the way the film handles the werewolf legend with atmosphere that lends attention for terror and satirical fun that makes for a worthy curiosity as one of the most curious horror features to come out in the 1980s. No matter which werewolf film of 1981 was better than the other, the important part to remember is that each one served as a worthy crawl in horror that weaved their own perspective on the creature with distinct effects that only seem to look better and better after four decades with conviction all the way around for the season.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

UHF.

Review #1250: UHF.

Cast: 
"Weird Al" Yankovic (George Newman), Kevin McCarthy (R.J. Fletcher), Michael Richards (Stanley Spadowski), David Bowe (Bob Steckler/Bobbo the Clown), Victoria Jackson (Teri Campbell), Fran Drescher (Pamela Finklestein), Stanley Brock (Uncle Harvey Bilchik), Sue Ane Langdon (Aunt Esther Bilchik), Anthony Geary (Philo), Billy Barty (Noodles MacIntosh), Trinidad Silva (Raul Hernandez), and Gedde Watanabe (Kuni) Directed by Jay Levey.

Review:
Sometimes you really need something different in order to get a good laugh. What better way to enjoy the day than with a film featuring Weird Al Yankovic in his only leading role for something that has gradually become a cult classic since its release three decades ago. Yankovic has been doing music for over four decades, with his knack being humorous parody songs (with examples such as "Eat It" and "White & Nerdy") that I can attest to enjoying on occasion. The idea for a film came from Yankovic and his manager Jay Levey that would be based on the approach he made when doing music videos but with (in the words of Yankovic) "TV commercial parodies, movie trailer parodies, and obviously TV show parodies" - this episodic approach certainly seems familiar (with Airplane! (1980) coming to mind), and in the right hands this could work really well. Who could not resist shows such as practical jokes & bloopers, a weird clubhouse show, wheel of fish and commercials that range from spatula shops to "Gandhi II"? It did not prove to be a major success upon release; despite a $5 million budget, the film made just six million at the box office while receiving tepid reception in a month full of big movies (Licence to Kill, Lethal Weapon 2, and Weekend at Bernie's, for example). This is a wonderful gag-fest kind of film, happy to deliver weird humor to those who are curious for said fun with a fairly game cast that rises above a fairly predicable and fairly thin story. Yankovic plays a decent straight man, adept at rolling with the material (imagined or not) without too much difficulty, although the chemistry between him and Jackson (doing fine with a pleasant if not too big role) doesn't really register many big moments. McCarthy is enjoyable with such a hammy role that inspires dry gruffness for which he seems to be having fun doing. Richards, featured between his noted work on Fridays and Seinfeld, proves wonderful in delivering rapid laughs without caution - he seizes his moments with zest and keeps the film spinning. The others do fine jobs in their occasional moments on screen, such as Geary and his offbeat charm or Silva (who contributes one of my favorite puns about not needing badgers). The film lands more often than not with its barrage of jokes on numerous things that land fairly well now, and it could be argued that the film laid groundwork for the weird humor that can pop up in various forms on the Internet (the accident involving a saw seems especially ripe for someone to make a dark video to emulate). It never seems to run with ideas too half-baked - or at least it knows when to roll to its next show. A more seasoned filmmaker would've probably delivered a bit more depth with these characters before driving up with humor, although I wonder if it would have really made for a better experience overall. The film rolls along in its 97 minutes without too much trouble - it isn't hard to see where it goes to get from point to point besides it's humor, but at least it puts some sort of effort to carry along without becoming too eccentric or one dimensional. It freewheels with charm enough to make this a winner to recommend, one that suits well for the current times with a nudge and a weird grin on its face.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).

Review #920: Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Cast:
Kevin McCarthy (Dr. Miles Bennell), Dana Wynter (Becky Driscoll), Larry Gates (Dr. Dan Kauffman), King Donovan (Jack Belicec), Carolyn Jones (Theodora "Teddy" Belicec), Jean Willes (Nurse Sally Withers), Ralph Dumke (Police Chief Nick Grivett), Virginia Christine (Wilma Lentz), and Tom Fadden (Uncle Ira Lentz) Directed by Don Siegel (#893 - Dirty Harry)

Review:
What is it about science fiction that entertains us so much? What is it about horror and and aliens that lure us so much to watch? The 1950s definitely had a great deal of entertainment with these things, but this film (based of the novel "The Body Snatcher" by Jack Finney) manages to shine on its own, becoming a film worth discussing in part because of how it constructs himself. Even if one treats it as just a horror flick (as what the director and writers have stated they were intending), It's an interesting horror film in how it invokes fear and fright from how little you really see of the terror. The film also has decent cinematography by Ellsworth Fredericks, with the shadows and lighting working nicely with the sets. McCarthy is a good lead, fitting as a storyteller and hero like a glove. Wynter is also pretty decent, having some chemistry with McCarthy while also proving to be capable for some scenes. Donovan and Jones do a pretty fine job as well in accompanying the others in a movie that always seems doing something beneath the surface. Nobody is killed on screen, nor is there much in terms of what the pod people are (aside from a part near the climax), but it has a great degree of layers within this thriller. Numerous things have been written about it being an allegory for things in the 1950s (this was the Cold War era after all), but the easiest one can be the way that people can act towards cultural things with a sense of unfeeling. While the nature of how the narrative is set up may be a bit clunky (in short, it's a flashback narrative), the movie is at least swift enough to never cop itself out too much. There is something really interesting about the way it speaks about conformity and autonomy in this film, and it doesn't bash you over the head with any sort of overwrought kind of nature. On the whole, this is an entertaining film that inspires fear along with thought in part due to a fine cast and fine direction that work together to make a critical film from the 1950s.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: The Best Man.

Review #580: The Best Man.

Cast
Henry Fonda (William Russell), Cliff Robertson (Joe Cantwell), Lee Tracy (Art Hockstader), Edie Adams (Mabel Cantwell), Margaret Leighton (Alice Russell), Ann Sothern (Sue Ellen Gamadge), Shelley Berman (Sheldon Bascomb), Gene Raymond (Don Cantwell), Kevin McCarthy (Dick Jensen), John Henry Faulk (Governor T.T. Claypoole), and Richard Arlen (Senator Oscar Anderson) Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner (#347 - Planet of the Apes)

Review
It's sort of hard to talk about this movie because when it all boils down to it, this is an okay movie. Fonda and Robertson are exceptional, especially when they share a scene, but Lee Tracy is even better, he steals the show and makes it his own in his final performance as he just dominates the movie with a commanding presence. The movie itself is alright, full of supporting characters that either are tolerable or just forgettable, though at least Kevin McCarthy is decent. This is more of a curiosity of a time different from now, but relevant in some ways that surprise even me.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.