Paul MacLean wrote: ↑Fri Aug 13, 2021 10:31 am
For me, Take The Money and Run remains one of Allen's better films, which is saying a lot considering his sizeable of his body of work. It's also interesting that it is a more straightforward, "conventional" movie -- with an original score by Marvin Hamlisch (whereas Allen would later abandon original music in lieu of needle drops) and lacking the "black title card" credits which he would later adopt for all his movies (up to this day).
THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US (1956). 2/10. The final entry in the CREATURE trilogy is an unsettling film in which a twisted surgeon by the name of Dr. William Barton (Jeff Morrow) wishes to capture the Creature in order to see if he can "create" a new species by speeding along the process of evolution. One of his team, geneticist Dr. Thomas Morgan (Rex Reason) wants nothing to do with Barton's nefarious intentions but only wants to study the Creature. Barton's unhappy and young trophy wife Marcia (Leigh Snowden) joins the group on the journey; her presence on the boat heightens Barton's jealousy, especially when he sees another member of the team named Jed Grant (Gregg Palmer) eyeing her. The group does find the Creature but they inflict burn wounds on it in the process; they take it back to the boat and perform surgery on it which results in the Creature losing its ability to breathe underwater.
I feel like this film is the most disturbing of the three, and arguably the most disturbing Universal monster film of them all. There really are no characters in the film outside of the Creature itself and Marcia Barton (who is an abused wife) who I felt sympathy for. In the end, the real "monster" in the film is humanity, best characterized by the psychotic Dr. Barton. His character is reminiscent of Henry Frankenstein and Dr. Moreau to me, and the theme of the arrogance of science seems to me to be front and center throughout. The score of this film is credited to Henry Mancini, and it is interesting to hear how well he scores the underwater sequences. At the end, it is questionable as to whether or not the Creature survives and grows back its gills, but honestly I was happy the film finally ended. I don't really find this entertaining - it is very dark and depressing, and it is not a film I will revisit for a long time, if ever again at all. One thing to note: in this film they track the Creature using sonar and a screen that shows blips on it...something ALIEN and ALIENS used to great effect decades later.
Fascinating, ragged, quasi-Hitchcockian thriller stars a young Sam Waterston as an American geologist whose discovery of an oil deposit in Turkey pits him against a number of both spies and allies on his trail -- not the least of which include Vincent Price, Donald Pleasance, Ian McShane and Zero Mostel. Oh, and Jackie Cooper, Stanley Holloway, Shelley Winters and Yvette Mimeux are also on-hand in this strange mix of travelogue and espionage, which remains extremely entertaining even in a draggy mid-section that feels more like "The Love Boat" than "North By Northwest."
Director Daniel Mann's Canadian-funded, internationally-shot movie has seldom been shown over the years -- and somehow looks "older" than its age -- but Dark Force Entertainment uncovered a decent looking print and released it on Blu-Ray. Despite the obvious shortcomings it's a lot of fun, with a sparse score by Alex North also adding some class to the material.
THE DELTA FORCE (1986)
8/10
I just picked up Scorpion Releasing's 2K remaster of this 1986 Cannon hit, which pretty much represents the high point of the Golan-Globus' studio heyday. With a strong cast, Menahem Golan manages to produce a real pop-culture relic of the '80s that's also hugely entertaining: the first hour offers crisp drama involving the hyjacking of a New York-bound plane in Athens with a number of Americans involved. The second drops all of these characters (who apparently did engage in the story but whose scenes were entirely discarded) in favor of one of the more rousing of all of Chuck Norris' action movies. It may leave reality behind, but when Chuck turns up in his cool, missile-adorned motorcycle and Alan Silvestri's score repeats his main theme for the umpeenth time, it's nearly impossible NOT to get wrapped up in the patriotic awesomeness of the moment...especially now as we live through a veritable re-creation of the 1970s!
I remember at the time the movie came out there was some controversy over the fact that the film had copycatted too much of the real-life story of the 1985 TWA #847 hijacking up to a point (a US Navy diver being beaten to death; the German stewardess helping to conceal the identities of Jewish passengers) before going off into the heroic Norris film tangent of how we would have liked to have seen that story unfold. TWA #847 had been a tense story over a period of 14 days that finally ended with a negotiated release and a sense that the killers of a US Navy diver had gotten off scot-free.
Silvestri's theme became the signature music for the introductions of ABC's telecasts of the Indianapolis 500 for many years afterwards. The theme combined with Indy TV voice Paul Page's narration and the Don Ohlmeyer edited clips of past 500s just blended together pefectly. Even though Page had never seen the movie he came to identify it as "his" theme music!
THE PHAMTOM OF THE OPERA (1943). 6/10. Erique Caludin (Claude Rains) is a violinist working for the Paris Opera House. He develops arthritis in his left hand and is dismissed from the orchestra. Unable to continue funding singing lessons for promising opera understudy Christine DuBois (Susanna Foster), he tries selling his one concerto piece to publisher Maurice Pleyel (Miles Mander) in order to raise the money necessary to continue being Christine's secret benefactor. Thinking that Pleyel has stolen his music, he attacks and kills him but in the process has acid thrown on his face which leads to disfigurement. Claudin hides from the police in the sewers underneath the Opera House and haunts it in an attempt to make Christine a star.
Filmed in Technicolor, this movie is really stunning visually. The sets are lavish and jump off the screen. The music is really strong as well - many of the pieces heard in the film were newly composed and based on public domain material. The concerto theme is very lovely - composer Edward Ward and those who worked on the opera material deserve a great deal of credit, and Susanna Foster has an amazing voice. Her solo moment on screen (and that high note she hits) sent a chill up my spine. Nelson Eddy's voice is good too. As far as the story goes, having Claudin murder the publisher because he thought the publisher stole his music makes him less of a sympathetic character in my opinion. Also, I guess the filmmakers changed the relationship between Claudin and Christine from one between father and daughter (to avoid possible incestuous subtext) to one of a romantic relationship. Not sure how the original relationship would have worked but it might have been better. The movie's comedic moments occur whenever police inspector Raoul (Edgar Barrier) and opera baritone Anatole (Nelson Eddy) compete for Christine's affections. All in all I don't really think of this as a "monster" film; it is more of a tragic drama worth watching for the opera numbers and the sets. And with that, the Universal film reviews are finished for me.
GRAFFITI BRIDGE (1990). 2/10. In this direct sequel to PURPLE RAIN, The Kid (Prince) is part owner (I think) of the Glam Slam Club at Seven Corners. Morris Day, who is all about money, has controlling interest in all the clubs on Seven Corners except for Glam Slam...and he wants it. The Kid is haunted by his father's suicide attempt and his mother being in a nursing home. He writes spiritual songs but is afraid no one will want to hear them. In drops an angel named Aura (Ingrid Chavez) who is sent into the situation between The Kid and Morris to bring about peace, love, and reconciliation between the two.
This was Prince's last film...thankfully. He wrote and directed it, which was part of the problem. Anyone who has followed Prince's career knows he can be very esoteric in his concepts and visions which, doubtless, male sense to him. That's what this movie is - esoteric and messy. The film's strength lies in its music and stage performances/dancing - Prince was a MONSTER on stage, and his shows had an energy and a vibe that were unparallelled (I saw him live a few times). He successfully captures that energy on film for himself, The Time, Tevin Campbell, Mavis Staples, and George Clinton. But in-between the musical numbers are narrative sequences that clumsily move the film's story to the next musical number. There are a couple of funny bits in the film, and Morris Day and Jerome certainly ham it up throughout the film (which is a positive). But in all honesty the movie itself is a turkey to the max. Even hard core fans like myself cringe...lol...despite that, I think only hard core fans will get the most out of it. The soundtrack is SLAMMIN'...so many good tunes in this film (Thieves in the Temple, Round and Round, Release It!, Joy in Repetition, The Question of U, Elephants & Flowers, We Can Funk)...the 2 points out of 10 is for the music and the stage performances/dancing.
MACHO CALLAHAN (1970)
3/10
**KINO LORBER PRE-REVIEW Available mid September**
Downbeat, slow-moving western from TV veteran Bernard Kowalski offers one of its era's small-screen heroes – David Jansen, aka TV's “The Fugitive” – as a Confederate army prisoner who – once he escapes from jail – sets out to exact revenge on the men who tricked him into enlisting in the first place. He also manages to kill the husband (David Carradine) of a woman (Jean Seberg) who later hires bounty hunters to track Jansen's anti-hero down – while she eventually falls for him (!) for reasons only writer Clifford Newton Gould can explain, since none of them are convincingly conveyed on-screen.
The first 15 minutes of “Macho Callahan” might trick you into thinking you're watching a buried gem: Gerry Fisher's widescreen lensing and tons of extras back a surprisingly well-executed (if ultimately disconnected) prison break sequence that must have commanded the lion's share of the entire production budget. Once it's over, though, Kowalski mires the audience in a strenuously unappealing “revisionist western” with a plodding pace, zero “romantic sparks” between the two leads, and a fashionably bleak downer ending that's so predictable that it comes off as unintentionally funny.
Western fans may want to give this one a chance on the basis of its obscurity and cast – but be prepared to be bored after a promising start. Kino Lorber's Blu-Ray includes a 4K restoration (2.35) from the original camera negative with the trailer and a commentary by Alex Cox that's superior to the film itself. The mono sound houses an okay score by Pat(rick) Williams.
THE CABINET OF DR. CALAGARI (1920). 10/10. While watching his fiancee Jane (Lil Dagover) wandering around an asylum courtyard, Francis (Friedrich Feher) tells his friend Alan (Hans Heinz v. Twardowski) the strange story of how Jane ended up in the asylum. It began with the arrival one day of the mysterious Dr. Calagari (Werner Krauss) who, after getting permission to set up his sideshow attraction at the city's festival, reveals his somnabulent prognosticator Cesare (Conrad Veidt) to the crowd. Shortly thereafter a series of strange murders occur. It turns out Cesare (under rhe hypnotic control of Dr. Calagari) is the perpetrator. He is sent to kill Jane but falls in love with her and instead abducts the poor woman. Traumatized by the event, Jane falls into madness, leaving Francis to discover the truth about Dr. Caligari and Cesare.
Even though this film is over 100 years old and is a silent film, it is still an immensely entertaining film with a twist ending I had forgotten about. As I began to realize where the coda ending was going I smiled...if a film that had been around that long can still wow me with its conclusion, then it has to get high marks! Directed by Robert Wiene, this movie is a visual treat - we all know about German Expressionism and its influence on American horror film and film noir; bottom line is that the images are still unique, creepy, weird, and unsettling to this day. The performances are what they were in the silent film era, aided by heavy make-up and over-articulatrd gestures...but it still works. The film never lets you get comfortable; the sets are stlll amazing to behold - I often found myself looking at the sets more than the actors, following the lines and symbols on the walls and looking for symmetry and balance. Kino Lorber's authoritative edition (2014 4K restoration) is insanely clear. The film is tinted with a few different colors, making the film seem "alive" in a way it wasn't before.
Kino Lorber's Blu-Ray also contains a 52 minute documentary that gives historical, cultural, and artistic perspective on the film from a German perspective. It is well worth watching. All in all I am very impressed with this disc and with the movie.
Eric Paddon wrote: ↑Sat Dec 12, 2020 11:44 pmThe Nude Bomb (1980) 4 of 10
-The only reason I found myself looking at this film again is because the Blu-Ray release gave us some interesting bells and whistles in the form of two commentary tracks and also noting how a lot of footage was added/altered for TV (the TV cut master is now lost, apparently the result of the Universal fire so they had to source it from an off-air recording to present the scenes as a supplement). The first commentary track by Adams then assistant (who later created the TV series "Sledgehammer") is VERY good and is worth the purchase price because while he's more forgiving of the film than he should be, he does acknowledge a lot of problems that crept up, and how the project spiraled from a TV-movie project through 18 scripts to a big-screen effort. He's helpful in pointing out things that were reshot and also how Eugene Roche was originally cast as the Chief but replaced by Dana Elcar after filming began because Elcar proved to be better at duplicating the timings/mannerisms of the late Ed Platt (plus he also resembled Platt more) which was more helpful to Adams' performance (Roche can still be seen in some wide shots). Unfortunately, he doesn't address why Barbara Feldon was never approached.
Alan Spencer wasn't "Adams then assistant" as he was his teenaged gagman as both the commentary and the TFH segment state. Spencer was hardly "forgiving" of the film pointing out all the deficiencies, but a commentary track cannot be nonstop castigation and studios also approve commentary tracks, so I was actually impressed by Spencer's candor and objectivity. He addressed why Barbara Feldon wasn't approached during the credit sequence as the studio didn't want a married Maxwell Smart and Spencer pithily referenced how 22 are lower numbers than 99, applying that also to ages.
Another "acclaimed drama" from decades past I'd never seen. Despite good notices at the time of its 1981 release, this film has fallen into obscurity -- and honestly it is not hard to see why. Set in late 1940s Los Angeles, Robert DeNiro plays a well-intentioned priest who enlists the help of powerful (but shady) people in order to further the interests of the church. Robert Duvall plays DeNiro's brother, a hardened detective who turns a blind eye to minor infractions but is essentially ethical. You'd think DeNiro and Duvall as brothers would be inspired casting, but in fact they don't have much chemistry together. Charles Durning co-stars as a corrupt fat cat (of course).
The overall story / script is solid, but director Ulu Grosbard's approach to the material is so subtle the film comes-off as dispassionate. The selection of locations and older buildings helps create a convincing look of 1940s Los Angeles (no mean feat in a city where razing historic architecture is a near-obsession). At the same time, True Confessions has no sense of style -- it has little-to-no visual panache compared to other LA film noirs like Chinatown, Devil In A Blue Dress or LA Confidential.
Even Georges Delerue's score is pretty sedate. Delerue was the master of intimate human dramas, always able to seize the emotional jugular (without succumbing to histrionics). But here he is not given room to "do his thing", and provides a merely serviceable score (by his standards anyway) with a rather workmanlike main theme.
The film also paints a fairly negative picture of the catholic church, depicting it as run by a lot of cold-hearted opportunists.
Last edited by Paul MacLean on Thu Oct 21, 2021 1:29 am, edited 3 times in total.
This 1970 John Huston effort seems an attempt to imitate Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet -- i.e. a period piece concerning young lovers trying to find their way in a world of violence and strife. Romeo & Juliet certainly proved timely in the Vietnam era, resonating with young people who felt "grown ups" were poisoning the world with hate. But whereas Zeffirelli's film told a story that resonates far beyond the era when it was made, A Walk With Love and Death is far-more "on the nose", and self-conscious in its attempt to draw parallels between the 1358 peasant uprising in France and the Vietnam war.
Still, the story has possibilities, but the film is just unrelentingly grim, and smothered in a pall of hopelessness. I suppose that was the point, but the whole thing becomes excessively oppressive after a while. John Huston's direction is also surprisingly workmanlike and at times even clunky. Performances are sometime awkward, as is the overall staging and camera placement.
Georges Delerue's period-style score is very good however, and the best thing about the film, which is otherwise a depressing, slow-moving bore.
Our local Alamo drafthouse had this as part of their Saturday morning showings with breakfast cereal. I took my 9 y.o. son, who had never seen the movie. After a lady who runs their "Pyscho-Cinema" gave a long-winded talk about the movie (boring my son & myself), she talked about the upcoming horror movies they have planned, and then showed the trailers! One was an old George Kennedy horror movie called "The Uninvited", which was about a monster cat. My son loves cats, and was in tears because of the trailer. I was NOT expecting that, and I wish the Alamo had not done it for a kid's showing.
ANYWAYS, the movie. I always liked it growing up, but man, it did not age very well. The then cutting edge CGI is so dated, something like Paw Patrol blows it out of the water. The actors do very well. Lance Guest is good as Alex, and Catherine Mary Stewart is quite a cutie, and Robert Preston is fun, but the plot is slow, the bad guys are lame, and the big climax isn't that exciting. The movie is much more low budget than I remember- a scene in the Alien's briefing room has all of them sitting on cheap office chairs from Office Depot for example. I also could have done without the younger brother swearing and having Playboys.
The reason this movie has any emotional impact at all is Craig Safan's score. It's the best theme he ever wrote, and the ending scene almost (ALMOST) reaches John Williams' ET in quality. I've loved the score since seeing this movie in 1980s. If you really want to be wowed by it, Erich Kunzel's re-recording of it is amazing!
My son did not like the movie. He was alternately bored or scared. Said he didn't know it was going to be so sci-fi. Geez son, it's called the Last Starfighter!!! What did you expect? Kids....
Oh man I literally watched that trailer for the first time the other night in the Drive In Delirium compilation -- I was nearly sick with laughter but clearly they showed the wrong trailer reel if that ran in front of kids. Ugh! It's like when I scramble to turn off the TV when the Candyman trailer comes on. Except you couldnt shut it off
I hope he wasn't too traumatized. I remember my parents letting me watch Prophecy when it ran on NBC in the early 80s and I mustve been like 8 and I freaked out and cried. Nowadays I just laugh at it but it freaked me out when I was a kid.