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

Patton.

Review #1434: Patton.

Cast: 
George C. Scott (Major General George S. Patton), Karl Malden (Major General Omar N. Bradley), Michael Bates (General Bernard Montgomery), Edward Binns (Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith), Lawrence Dobkin (Colonel Gaston Bell), John Doucette (Major General Lucian Truscott), James Edwards (Sergeant William George Meeks), Frank Latimore (Lieutenant Colonel Henry Davenport), Richard Münch (Colonel General Alfred Jodl), Morgan Paull (Captain Richard N. Jenson), Siegfried Rauch (Captain Oskar Steiger), and Paul Stevens (Lieutenant Colonel Charles R. Codman) Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner (#347 - Planet of the Apes and #580 - The Best Man)

Review: 
Acting changes the inner spirit. It's fulfilling, but psychologically very costly. You can't steal enough money in a lifetime to make up for the damage. I'm ashamed for the bitterness it created in me, but it exists. Even when you're successful it's hard to rise above it. It's like a growth.


Perhaps it is not too hyperbolic to describe this as the military biopic to try and end all military biopics. The director responsible for such a grand portrait of a man bigger than life was Franklin J. Schaffner, a veteran of World War II for the Navy that worked for over a decade in television with programs such as such as Studio One and Playhouse 90 before adding films to his repertoire with The Stripper (1963). This film proved to be the pinnacle of his career, although he had (and would make) other noted films such as The Best Man (1964), Planet of the Apes (1968) and Papillon (1973). Adapting the larger-than-life general to the screen was a long process, not helped by being denied access to Patton's diaries. Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North would write the script based on two works: Patton: Ordeal and Triumph from Ladislas Farago (a Hungarian military historian and journalist) and A Soldier's Story, written by Omar Bradley (General of the Army and consultant for the film). At the helm as star was George C. Scott, who made a name for himself on stage, television and supporting roles in film starting in 1958 that eventually grew into further prominent work by the time the 1960s had ended. He had acquired the part after Rod Steiger rejected it (he stated that he did not want to glorify war, but he subsequently called it his "dumbest career move"), with this serving as the role Scott became best known for in his career, and he would later return to the role in a TV movie The Last Days of Patton sixteen years later. Schaffner, Coppola, North, and Patton would each win an Academy Award for their work (although Scott would famously refuse to accept the award, having objected to the voting process and competition for actors as a whole).

One thing that can immediately be said about the film that applies to Scott as well is the fact that neither ever seem to flinch for 170 minutes. Whether one sees an enigma with the person portrayed on screen or not, one cannot deny the gripping performance from Scott, who is relentless in conviction and stature that springs right from the opening scene with the speech to the Third Army, standing right by an American flag. The sequence (which utilized statements from the actual speech, albeit toned down in language) is a magnificent way to open the film, filled with no-nonsense bluster and rallying spirit for a war movie made in the midst of another war (perhaps one can infer something from this, as was the case with the other hit war film in M*A*S*H, which was beaten in the race for Best Picture at the Academy Awards that year). One doesn't think about the other members of the cast much when it comes to a film like this, nor do they really think about all the history leading up to Patton being where he is as the man of the moment - one might even believe that Scott and Patton have melded together to make for one encompassing performance that we care for in all of its imperfect perfections. Probably the one person who makes for substantial screen time to follow alongside Scott is Malden, who makes for a reserved but dignified contrast when he shows up from time to time, while the others fill their parts with care that don't fall prey to the contrivances that can sometimes pop up in a biopic (of course this is a movie that covers Patton from just 1943-1945). The battle sequences certainly work out in terms of scope, no doubt aided by being filmed in 65mm Dimension 150 and Jerry Goldsmith's sweeping musical score. While a film will never completely tell the tale of any one man (particularly one as colorful as Patton), this one manages to draw a composed picture on its subject with bombast and precision, which work out most of the time as an enigmatic but involving epic for the era.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.