Send Me No Flowers (1964)

Posted on April 21, 2013 | 4 comments

send me no flowers 2

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 7 out of 10

4-Word Review: Hypochondriac thinks he’s dying.

Seriously funny story about hypochondriac George (Rock Hudson) overhearing a conversation from his Dr. (Edward Andrews) about one of his patients having only a short time to live and mistakenly thinking he was talking about him. He decides to set his beautiful wife Judy (Doris Day) up with another potential mate before he leaves, but she starts to get the idea that this is all just a cover-up for an affair that she thinks he is having, which creates all-out calamity.

Screenwriter Julius J. Epstein, who based this on the stageplay of the same name, hits all the right cylinders. The comedy shifts smoothly between engaging banter, parody, satire, and action. One of the best moments comes at the beginning with animated sequence of commercial parodies.

Hudson is great. Playing a dopey guy lost in his own little world works with his acting style. He and Day have a good chemistry and it is a shame that this was the third and last film that they did together.

The supporting cast is at the top of their game. Andrews is funny as the flippant Dr. Paul Lynde is also amusing as an aggressive cemetery plot salesman. Tony Randall is the funniest as George’s long-suffering friend Arnold. His new found fetish of ‘feeling tables’ is hilarious as is his frequent revisions of George’s eulogy, which he reads to him to ‘cheer him up’.  Although actor Clint Walker isn’t funny in his performance the shot showing this giant of a man getting out of one of the smallest cars you’ll ever see is a crazy sight.

Day is energetic and gorgeous as ever and I liked her opening title tune in which she sounds almost like Lesley Gore. However, the best moments go to the rest of the cast and she is left with slapstick segments that have nothing to do with the story. The scene where she takes all of George’s medications from the medicine cabinet and puts them into a bucket, which she then dumps onto his head while standing on a balcony is good, but the rest of her scenes don’t really gel.

One scene with her gets botched and involves her driving an out-of-control golf cart. The close-up shots make it obvious that she is in front of a blue screen and not really driving it to begin with. However, there is a moment where she drives through a bunch of sprinklers which makes her hair all wet and matted down, but then the camera cuts to some long shots showing her hair is still dry and fluffy, which exposes the fact that it was being driven by a stunt double wearing a wig.

There is another segment where she gets into a car and starts it up and even backs it out a little before she realizes that it is not her car. Another scene later on has George doing the same thing with another stranger’s car. Both times it is because the keys were conveniently left in the ignition, but how many times does this occur in real life? Since neither of these segment had anything really to do with the story and weren’t all that funny I would have left it out since both moments especially to happen twice are implausible.

The movie ends with a shot of the empty medicine cabinet while the credits scroll over it. Supposedly this was used to symbolize that George was now ‘cured’ of his hypochondria and no longer needed all of the medications, but mental illness is not something that just goes away and I thought it would have been funnier had medicines started to pop back into the cabinet until it became full again.

My Rating: 7 out of 10

Released: October 14, 1964

Runtime: 1Hour 39Minutes

Not Rated

Director: Norman Jewison

Studio: Universal

Available: VHS, DVD, Amazon Instant Video

4 Comments

Posted in 60's Movies, Comedy, Movies Based on Stageplays, Slapstick

Tagged , , ,

Chino (1973)

Posted on April 19, 2013 | Leave a comment

chino 2

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 3 out of 10

4-Word Review: Chuck and the kid.

Jamie (Vincent Van Patten) is a teen runaway in the old west that comes upon an isolated horse ranch run by Chino (Charles Bronson) who is ostracized by the locals for being a ‘half-breed’.  Chino reluctantly takes the boy under his wings and teaches him about how to take care of horses, but neither of them can completely escape the racism and hatred around them.

Filmed in Spain the rustic countryside has a certain visual appeal and the low-key music is a perfect score for this type of western. There is a barroom brawl and a shootout at the end, but overall this is standard stuff with little to help make it stand out. Everything this movie has to offer you’ve seen before and in most cases done better. That is not to say it is a bad movie, but it is lacking in imagination and seems content to simply borrow from an already overused formula. While the pacing isn’t exactly slow it isn’t compelling either. The characterizations, plot, and dialogue are held at the most simplistic level and if it weren’t for a brief bit of nudity by an attractive native woman I would almost say this thing was aimed solely for kids.

Bronson doesn’t show much range of emotion here and comes off in the wooden way his critics have always accused him of although he is still good in the action sequences. Jill Ireland’s appearance helps add a bit of life to the proceedings and the antagonistic banter that the two share while he tries to train her to ride a horse is fun to a minor extent as it the part where she walks in on him as he is standing buck-naked in a bathtub. However, having them fall in love so quickly and then want to get married is rushed and forced.

It is fun seeing Vincent Van Patten as a young teen, but his interaction with Bronson is dull. Their eventual ‘bonding’ is formulaic and clichéd and only helps in cementing this as a forgettable, pointless, low-budget foray.

The real stars of the picture are the horses that show much more of a screen presence than their human counterparts. In fact during the first half you see more of them than the people, which is just as well. There is even a shot showing two of them mating, which is the film’s sole unique moment and for some possibly even the highpoint.

My Rating: 3 out of 10

Released: September 14, 1973

Runtime: 1Hour 37Minutes

Rated PG

Director: John Sturges

Studio: Intercontinental Releasing Corporation

Available: DVD, Amazon Instant Video

Leave a comment

Posted in 70's Movies, Bronson/Ireland, Buddy Movies, Foreign Films, Italian Films, Low Budget, Movies Based on Novels, Movies with a rural setting, Westerns

Tagged , , ,

The Mosquito Coast (1986)

Posted on April 15, 2013 | 4 comments

mosquito coast 2

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 7 out of 10

4-Word Review: Moving to the jungle.

Allie Fox (Harrison Ford) is a disgruntled, eccentric, and angry inventor who feels that the United States has lost its soul. When his new ice making invention is not met with the enthusiasm that he expects he decides to move to the jungles of Central America and start a whole new society of his own in his own vision while taking his wife and four kids with him.

Filmed mostly in the country of Belize Director Peter Weir does a terrific job of capturing the flavor of the region. The plot progresses in a slow linear fashion making the viewer feel that they are traveling along and experiencing the same things right along with the characters. I found myself more entranced with the unique sounds of the exotic birds and insects of the region than the visuals. There are definite shades of Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo and Sam Peckinpah’s Ballad of Cable Hogue were we watch a man verging on sheer madness build a town from nothing while injecting his control and passion on all those around him.

Watching Allie’s vision and town come to life is fascinating and satisfying, which makes up most of the film’s first hour. However, the second hour deals with his eventual self-destruction and watching the whole place go up literally in flames and due mainly to his self-absorbed arrogant nature is rather depression and agonizing to go through. Having the man turn into an out-of-control tyrant that alienates those around him even his own family is telegraphed from the very beginning. Instead of being an insightful character study it is instead more like a draining experience that makes the viewer feel as exhausted and run over as Allie’s beleaguered family.

Helen Mirren’s character as the mother is poorly defined and becomes rather frustrating in the process. She seems like an intelligent woman with sufficient self-esteem, so it became baffling to me why she would go along with this nut of a husband and follow him loyally on all of his bizarre tangents. She does finally have an emotional breakdown of sorts near the end, but I felt that should have occurred way earlier like before they even left on their crazy journey. By remaining so passive and compliant to Allie and towing her four young children along with it made me almost believe that she was crazier than he was. Some may argue that she was ‘madly in-love’ with the man and therefore overlooked his many personality flaws, but it seemed to be taking that concept too much to the extreme.

River Phoenix and Jadrien Steele are excellent as Allie’s two sons. Both have amazingly expressive faces and the viewer finds themselves sharing most of their empathy with them. Watching them start out as idolizing their father and then learning to hate him only to grieve for him at the end is touching. My only complaint is the voice-over narration by Phoenix, which to me came off as unnecessary and heavy-handed.

Ford took a risky career move by playing a character that is not too likable, but I applaud his decision. A true actor takes roles that demand going out of the safety zone and for the most part he succeeds. I liked how he brings a certain level of humor to the otherwise abrasive character particularly when he goes on long and uncontrolled rants to the natives while they are helping to build his town and many respond with lost looks on their faces while he talks to them. My favorite part is when he lectures a young boy about America’s inflation while being drowned out by the noise of a chainsaw that he is using. . I realize the scar on his chin is from a car accident that he had in the 60’s, but there were so many close-ups of his face and you see it so vividly that I felt there should have been some explanation for it written into the script, which has been done in some of his other films.

Andre Greagory is fun as the missionary who comes to odds with the opinionated Allie. He supplies just the right balance of menace and humor to the role. The televised sermon that he gives while using props is funny. It is fun to see Butterfly McQueen in her last movie role as well as spotting a young Jason Alexander as a hardware store clerk. Martha Plimpton has a nice sarcastic way about her as River’s potential girlfriend and it is good to see a teen love interest that has more of a plain look and not some model taken straight off the cover of Seventeen Magazine.

The idea of showing how modern day suburbia has destroyed the rugged individualist, but how trying to rough it in the wilderness could pretty much end in the same way is a good one. However, the movie tends to be too downbeat and unbalanced. It is based on the Paul Theroux novel, which I suspect is probably better.

My Rating: 7 out of 10

Released: November 26, 1986

Runtime: 1Hour 57Minutes

Rated PG

Director: Peter Weir

Studio: Warner Brothers

Available: VHS, DVD, Amazon Instant Video

4 Comments

Posted in 80's Movies, Action/Adventure, Drama, Drama on the High Seas, Movies Based on Novels, Movies with a rural setting

Tagged , , , ,

Cul-De-Sac (1966)

Posted on April 14, 2013 | 4 comments

cul de sac 2

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 8 out of 10

4-Word Review: Bubbling beneath the surface.

Albie and Richard (Jack MacGowran, Lionel Stander) are two gangsters on the run. Albie is injured with a gunshot wound and their getaway car has broken down. They come upon an isolated castle owned by George (Donald Pleasance) who lives there with his new wife Teresa (Francoise Dorleac, who tragically died in a car accident just one year after this film was released). George is very passive and timid and pretty much allows Richard to have his way as he takes over the place and his wife and yet as the situation progresses different shades of the character’s personalities begin to come to light.

Roman Polanski leaves his strong directorial touch from the exquisite opening shot, which shows an old car being pushed along on a desolate road amidst a very flat landscape until the end. In the hands of any other director this otherwise odd story probably would not have worked. Like with A Knife in Water Polanski makes great use of the quiet and serene atmosphere and as a viewer you feel like you are right there with the characters.  Filmed on-location at the Lindisfarne Castle on Holy Island in Northumberland, England the movie makes great use of the tranquil setting. I found it almost hard to believe that there was a film crew there as the isolation really grabs you and sucks you in. The quiet moments are the film’s strongest and I just loved the hooting owl heard in the background. The idea of filming it in black and white nicely compliments the film’s dark psychological undertones.

The film’s novelty is watching how the characters evolve and interact with one another. Donald Pleasance gives one of his best performances as the cowardly George. There have been many weak and frighten characters in cinema history, but Pleasance makes the character here quite interesting and the way he finally shows some bravado at the least likely moment is fascinating. Stander also excels with a character that initially comes off as a brute, but at strange times reveals a trusting and even child-like manner.

The movie can be viewed in different ways and doesn’t fit distinctly into any type of genre. To a degree it can work as a dark psychological character study, a mystery, film noir, a thriller, or macabre comedy. Approaching it as a comedy works best Polanski has not always had great success in that area and some of his comedies in particular the ill-advised Pirates have been complete disasters, but this one works. The best scene is when some of George’s old friends come to visit and bring along their bratty son who becomes an absolute terror to everyone.

The odd ending is open to interpretation and leaves a lasting impression. This is also a great chance to see Jacqueline Bisset in her film debut. She appears during the second half wearing glasses and saying little, but is as beautiful and alluring as ever.

cul de sac 1

My Rating: 8 out of 10

Released: November 7, 1966

Runtime: 1Hour 57Minutes

Not Rated

Director: Roman Polanski

Studio: Tekli British Productions

Available: DVD (The Criterion Collection) Blu-ray, Amazon Instant Video, Netflix streaming

4 Comments

Posted in 60's Movies, Black & White, Black Comedy, British Movies, Foreign Films, Gangster Movies, Moody/Stylish, Movies with a rural setting, Psychological

Tagged , , ,

Breakheart Pass (1976)

Posted on April 12, 2013 | 3 comments

breakheart pass 2

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 7 out of 10

4-Word Review: Chuck’s on a train.

John Deacon (Charles Bronson) is a prisoner on a train headed Fort Humboldt. The train is carrying medical supplies to help the people there who are suffering from a plague outbreak. Amongst the passengers on the train is a Governor (Richard Crenna) a U.S. Marshal (Ben Johnson), a priest (Bill McKinney) and a load of Calvary soldiers, but as the ride progresses strange things begin to happen. People disappear and then turn up dead. Everyone seems to have a secret to hide and what is inside the boxes labeled medical supplies isn’t medicine.

This is the first Bronson/Ireland production to be given a big budget and the wintry Rocky Mountain landscape is sumptuous. The plot itself is intriguing and full of interesting twists that grabs you right from the start and keeps you enthralled until the end. Based on the Alister Maclean novel who also wrote the script it is no surprise that it seems more like a spy/espionage thriller than a conventional western yet there is enough gritty elements to keep it passable at both ends. The mixture of the two genres is unique and exciting and for a bubblegum actioner this one hits the mark.

The stuntwork is impressive and one of the film’s highpoints. Some of the best moments are when a man is thrown from a train and you see him fall from a bridge all the way to the river below. What makes this stand out is that the conventional, lightweight mannequin was thankfuly not used. Instead it looks like a real human body that even thumps along the wooden posts of the bridge as it goes down making it vivid. Watching the trainload of soldiers spiral off the tracks and go crashing along the mountainside has the same realistic quality. The fight on top of one of the snowy train cars between Bronson and former boxer Archie Moore is well choreographed and the scene of a telegraph operator getting a bullet shot through his head is surprisingly graphic.

The supporting cast is good and for a while they outshine Bronson who seems in a way outclassed by their colorful personalities and different acting styles. However, as it evolves Bronson comes into his own and it becomes a lot of fun watching the way he singlehandedly outsmarts and outmuscles all of them.

Ireland is beautiful as always and manages to hold her own to the otherwise all male cast. The music becomes an excellent added element. The booming orchestral sound of the opening theme is reminiscent of ones used in classic westerns. The unique score played whenever the Indians appear on screen has an interesting beat and sound. This is an entertainment winner for not only Bronson fans, but for action lovers as well.

breakheart pass 1

My Rating: 7 out of 10

Released: December 25, 1975

Runtime: 1Hour 35Minutes

Rated PG

Director: Tom Gries

Studio: United Artists

Available: VHS, DVD, Amazon Instant Video

3 Comments

Posted in 70's Movies, Action/Adventure, Bronson/Ireland, Cold Climate/Wintertime Movies, Disaster Flicks, Movies Based on Novels, Movies with a train setting, Mystery, Westerns

Tagged , ,

American Movie (1999)

Posted on April 10, 2013 | 2 comments

american movie

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 7 out of 10

4-Word Review: He needs a life.

Supposedly this is a documentary about all the troubles a young would-be filmmaker has trying to film a low budget independent movie. In actuality it is the rather stark portrait of how elusive the American dream is to the low income citizen and yet how hard they still dream for it. It creates a truly absurd scenario of desperation that could only work if it was real and not the work of fiction.

The film is tightly woven without the extraneous footage one usually finds with most documentaries. We are given a well-rounded look at these people and feel like we know them. There is some question as to whether these subjects are shown so we can learn something from it or just to laugh at them, but either way it is thoroughly engrossing.

Mark Borchardt, the would-be director, is definitely the main attraction. He talks with a heavy Wisconsin accent and is the quintessential ‘pothead’. He is a man, who by his own admission spent his entire adolescence drinking and partying. Now that he must get serious about life, he resists by clinging onto his movie making dreams. His movie idea is uninspired slasher film stuff that is taken from other more successful films. He hopes to duplicate that success and thus ride it’s coattails out of his otherwise woeful existence. He is as empty headed as he looks and sounds. Yet he still puts on a mighty song and dance. He is like an aggressive used car salesman, dishonest politician and ranting street preacher who talks a lot, but says little.

He is surrounded by equally interesting people. You have his Swedish accented mother who passively supports her son in his endeavors, yet reluctantly admits he has no chance. Then there’s cantankerous frail, old Uncle Bill. He is a man who doesn’t talk much, but when he does make a peep it is a doozy. You also have a rather touching bond between Mark and his best friend Mike. A fellow ‘pothead’ who looks and sounds like he is barely functional, yet still assists his friend in all his filmmaking problems even though he himself really isn’t that interested in it.

This thing is literally amazing from start to finish. A few of the gems include: the many, many takes they have to do before old Uncle Bill can say one line of simple dialogue correctly. Then there’s the would-be director himself, who works part time as a custodian at a cemetery, describing his ‘profound’ experience at cleaning up a clogged, messy toilet. There’s even a near comatose friend Mike who breaks out and gives the shrillest special effects scream you will ever hear.

If you like to view people just being themselves then this slice of life comes highly recommended.

My Rating: 7 out of 10

Released: January 11, 1999

Runtime: 1Hour 47Minutes

Rated R

Director: Chris Smith

Studio: Bluemark Productions

Available: DVD, Amazon Instant Video

2 Comments

Posted in 90's Movies, Buddy Movies, Comedy, Documentaries

Tagged , , ,

Witness (1985)

Posted on April 8, 2013 | 3 comments

witness

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 8 out of 10

4-Word Review: Hiding out on farm.

Samuel (Lukas Haas) is a young Amish boy traveling with his mother Rachel (Kelly McGillis) by train to Baltimore to visit her sister. At the train station he leaves to go to the restroom where he witnesses a murder committed by McFee (Danny Glover) a narcotics cop gone bad. John Book (Harrison Ford) is the policeman investigating the case and when he realizes that there is an internal cover-up and he is now being targeted for blowing the whistle he goes into hiding with the boy and his mother at the farm home of Rachel’s grandfather Eli (Jan Rubes). There John learns to adjust to the Amish lifestyle while forming feelings for Rachel who displays the same for him, but McFee and his henchman doggedly pursue John in an attempt to silence him permanently.

The script by Earl K. Wallace and William Kelley deservedly won the Academy Award and is perfect blend of riveting cop drama and cultural understanding and one of the few films to deal with the Amish culture. It manages to tackle the subject in a non-sensationalistic manner that for the most part shows the Amish community in a positive, but still realistic light. The scenes showing the Amish men getting together and working as a team to hoist up a barn is exhilarating. The part where John punches out a brash heckler who looks exactly like current Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh who is harassing the peaceful people is satisfying as well. The film does also manage to look a bit at the negative side of the religion namely the shunning where if one of their members does not conform completely to their rigid doctrine then they will be literally shunned by the rest of their community even their own family members, which Rachel is told she risks simply by being, in their eyes, too friendly with John.

I remember at the time some critics complained about the scene where Rachel is bathing and turns around to find John peering at her and instead of covering herself up just stands there and exposes both of her breasts. Many people felt that this was not realistic. That a women raised on modesty would not just throw it all away and expose herself to a man who she was not married to and not a part of their community even if she did have some feelings for him and I have to agree. Although I did like the quiet sensuality of the scene I did not feel it was right for his type of picture, but fortunately it is the only time that it ever gets ‘Hollywoodnized’ and for the most part is pretty respectful.

The balance between the potential love angle and the action is surprisingly well done. The film may have one too many romantic moments, but otherwise the pacing is solid. The climatic showdown inside the barn had me on the edge of my seat and one of the best and most creative action finales for a cop movie that I have seen.

Ford is engaging as ever and it is surprising that his role here is his first and so far only time that he has ever been nominated for best actor. It is fun watching him learn how to milk a cow as well as seeing him dressed in an Amish suit with the pants not quite long enough.

Josef Sommar also gives an interesting performance as one of the bad guys. Instead of being the villain that becomes more confident, brazen, evil, and vicious as the pressure mounts he instead begins to behave in a more panicked and confused manner, which is an interesting take on the age-old formula.

Of course the real star of the film has to be Haas who is perfectly cast. He is cute and adorable without it ever having to be forced, or clichéd and one of the main reasons that this film has become so endearing.

The film also features Viggo Mortensen in a non-speaking part as one of the Amish men and Patti Lupone has a brief bit as John’s sister who begrudgingly agrees to take in Rachel and her son for the night in her home. Her reaction when Rachel tells her that she is Amish is subtly amusing.

My Rating: 8 out of 10

Released: February 8, 1985

Runtime: 1Hour 52Minutes

Rated R

Director: Peter Weir

Studio: Paramount

Available: VHS, DVD, Amazon Instant Video

3 Comments

Posted in 80's Movies, Academy Award Winners for Best Screenplay, Action/Adventure, Drama, Movies with a rural setting, Movies with Nudity, Police Drama, Romance

Tagged , ,

The Flim-Flam Man (1967)

Posted on April 7, 2013 | 5 comments

flim flam man 2

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 6 out of 10

4-Word Review: Con-man finds apprentice.

Curley (Michael Sarrazin) is a young army deserter living in an over-turned and abandoned freight car in the rural regions of Kentucky. By chance he meets up with Mordecai Jones (George C. Scott) a traveling con-man who decides to use Curly as his apprentice as well as his assistance in some of his more elaborate schemes. At first Curley goes along with it, but when he fall in-love with Bonnie (Sue Lyon) one of Mordecai’s intended victims he decides he wants out much to Mordecai’s reluctance.

Scott really shines and this may be his best comic performance. Although he was only 38 at the time he looks and acts like a genuine old man even though his gray hair looks like it was frosted on much like what is done to white Christmas trees. In some way it might have been more authentic had an older actor played the role, but Scott is so much fun in the part that the movie may not have worked as well.

Sarrazin is solid in support. His quiet demeanor and understated performances never allowed him to get the recognition that he deserved, but he was always effective in these types of roles and having the character walk the moral tightrope and sometimes fall off makes him interesting and believable. Lyon is also good as the romantic interest. Although I felt the romance bogged things down a bit I still enjoyed her natural acting style that is devoid of any pretension.

Harry Morgan is fun as the headstrong sheriff who chases after Mordecai and Curly as is Albert Salmi as his dim-witted deputy. Salmi’s blank looking facial expressions are tops and the car chase that they have with the two culprits features some impressive comical stunt work and seems to tear-up the entire main street of the town.

The soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith has wonderfully soothing melody with some great harmonica and trumpet solos. The on-location shooting in Kentucky captures the countryside and the hazy late summer sunshine of the region well.  For the most part the film is quite amiable and amusing, but predictable. The script lacks the unexpected twist or unique insight that would elevate it above being just the fluff that it is. The ending, which features Curly rigging the courthouse with dynamite and threatening it blow it up has a touching quality to it, but proves frustrating as it doesn’t show us what ultimately becomes of the characters.

My Rating: 6 out of 10

Released: August 22, 1967

Runtime: 1Hour 44Minutes

Director: Irvin Kershner

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Available: VHS 

5 Comments

Posted in 60's Movies, Buddy Movies, Comedy, Fast Cars/Car Chase, Movies Based on Novels, Movies that take place in the South, Movies with a rural setting, Obscure Movies, Prison Flicks, Slapstick

Tagged , ,

The Valachi Papers (1972)

Posted on April 5, 2013 | Leave a comment

the valachi papers 1

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 7 out of 10

4-Word Review: Testifying against the mob.

Based on the bestselling novel by Peter Maas this film chronicles the life of Joseph Valachi (Charles Bronson) who became the very first informant for the Mafia in their history. The story chronicles his life from a young man getting involved in the mafia culture to his eventual imprisonment and testifying in front of congress.

At the time of release this was compared closely to The Godfather with some critics outrageously saying it was better, but clearly it doesn’t come close. This film lacks the in-depth characterizations, lyrical quality, and an overall slick design. This film is also rather sloppily produced including one scene involving an exciting car chase taking place in the 1930’s. When the two cars go crashing through the wall of a warehouse and into the East river one can clearly see the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, which weren’t built until 1970. There is also the Lucky Luciano character played by actor Angelo Infanti who wears a type of glasses that did not come into style until well into the 1970’s. However, as a whole the film is still amazingly compelling flick that ends up being both entertaining and somewhat informative. The music score has a terrific ominous tone to it and the prison scenes have a nice starkness.

The film was known at the time for its violence, which by today’s standards may not seem quite as startling or as excessive although the blood and bullets do come at regular intervals. My favorite was the shooting of an old crime boss inside a barbershop although the castration of a victim on top of a table inside a restaurant is pretty wild. However, for all of its violence the film does manage to have a sense of humor as well including a very amusing scene where one of Joe’s mob bosses sits in the living room of the mother of Joe’s girlfriend and asks the mother for her permission to allow Joe to marry her daughter while Joe sits nervously behind and tries to look proper.

Lino Ventura has the perfect face of a mob boss and was ideally cast. The scene of him inside the prison where he has stays in a well-furnished cell and even seems to have his own barber is funny. Joseph Wiseman displays great zest as the opposing crime boss Salvatore Maranzano and his agonizing yells of pain as he lies dying are effective.

Bronson seems perfectly cast as an uneducated simple man who is a follower and has his own quiky code of morality, which makes him strangely endearing. His wife Jill Ireland does not fare as well. She ports a brunette wig and her Italian accent borders on being horrendous to non-existent. Fortunately she is not given very many speaking lines as her British accent is constantly seeping through.

In many ways this film could best be described as an ugly cousin to Goodfellas. While this film lacks that film’s fluid directorial flair it still manages to be an engrossing true-life gangster soap opera like that one.

the valachi papers 2

My Rating: 7 out of 10

Runtime: 2Hours 5Minutes

Released: November 3, 1972

Rated R

Director: Terence Young

Studio: Columbia Pictures

Available: VHS, DVD

Leave a comment

Posted in 70's Movies, Action/Adventure, Bronson/Ireland, Foreign Films, Gangster Movies, Italian Films, Movies Based on Actual Events, Movies Based on Novels, Movies that take place in the Big Apple, Prison Flicks

Tagged , ,

Blade Runner (1982)

Posted on April 1, 2013 | 4 comments

blade runner 2

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 7 out of 10

4-Word Review: Where are the replicants?

The movie, based on the novel ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ by Phillip K. Dick, takes place in the year 2019 where human clones called replicants have been created and used basically as slave labor in off-world colonies. However, they create a mutiny and become a danger to the human race on Earth and are therefore banned from returning. If they do come back they are hunted down and killed by a special police force called Blade Runners. Rick Dekard (Harrison Ford) is one of those blade runners and is considered to be the best, but is burned out with his job. He is coaxed out of retirement when an especially dangerous group of replicants led by Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) escape and return to the planet.

On a visual level this film scores a bulls-eye and is nothing short of awe inspiring. You truly get the feeling that you have traveled to a whole different world. It’s a very complete and intricate vision that can make this movie enjoyable to watch in that area alone. Having it perpetually raining and gloomy helps add to the decayed nihilistic tone of the story. Although it takes place in futuristic city of Los Angeles one might actually think it is China due to the large number of Chinese ads on billboards and oriental people seen in the backdrop of scenes. I can only presume this was a Chinese neighborhood of the city, but I wasn’t sure why the action was placed there. Personally, I have no problem with it and it does help add an extra flavor to the proceedings, but I still felt it needed more of an explanation, which never came. Quite possibly this is something that is explained in the Dick novel, but for those that haven’t read it and are coming in brand new to it all it could prove just a bit confusing.

I really liked the story idea, but felt, like a lot of the critics did at the time, that the pacing is off. There is so much emphasis put on the style and atmosphere that at times it seems like the plot is almost forgotten. The scenes are stretched out much longer than in a typical action/sci-fi picture, which in some ways makes it interesting, but in another way it seems unnecessary. There really isn’t any action or excitement until almost an hour in and even then it goes by too quickly. Too much emphasis is put into Deckard’s relationship with Rachael (Sean Young) a replicant that doesn’t even know that she is one. There is no real chemistry between the two actors and the whole romantic angle came off as forced and contrived and bogged the whole thing down.

Ford is at his crusty best. Few people can play a sarcastic character like he does and still come off as engaging. I liked the ‘been there, done that’ attitude of the character, but found that his ability to handle the replicants seemed woefully lacking. They seem to be constantly taking him by surprise and then throwing him around like he is a ragdoll. Without the defense of his gun, which in one scene gets slapped out of his hand like it is nothing, he seems utterly even hopelessly ineffectual. There are several moments when he is about to be killed by them and is only saved when someone else comes to his rescue. You would think that if someone is as savvy and cocky as this character is portrayed and considered ‘the best’ by his superiors that he would have acquired some sort of fighting technique or better skill at handling them. Instead he looks like he is completely in over his head.

Having a typical gun as the only weapon seems pretty conventional and unimaginative. I would have thought in the future the technology in the weaponry department would be more advanced. A little more James Bond-like gadgetry would have made the fight scenes more interesting. Also, the technique at telling whether the person is human or a replicant is awfully archaic.

Hauer as the leader of the bad guys was a terrific casting choice. I can’t think of any other actor living or dead who was better suited for the part, but unfortunately he gets terribly underused in the process. He is seen only sporadically in the first hour and is not as menacing and terrifying as he should be. The final showdown between the two is good and makes great use of the moody lighting and Victorian-like background set, but ends up fizzling at the end.

I came away with mixed feelings on this one. On a technical end it verges on being brilliant, but in other areas it is lacking. The tension needed to be played up more, the confrontations needed more sizzle, and the hero needed to be more in control of the situation.

However, I really liked Daryl Hannah who has just the right blend of sexiness and evilness in her part. Brion James is good simply because he appears very benign, but then surprises the viewer with an unexpected and unannounced viciousness. You also got to love Joe Turkel and his very funky glasses.

blade runner 1

My Rating: 7 out of 10

Released: June 25, 1982

Runtime: 1Hour 57Minutes

Rated R

Director: Ridley Scott

Studio: Warner Brothers

Available: VHS, DVD, HDDVD, Blu-ray, Amazon Instant Video

4 Comments

Posted in 80's Movies, Action/Adventure, Cult, Drama, Moody/Stylish, Movies Based on Novels, Sci-Fi

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,