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tt0042290 | Bunker Hill Bunny | Bugs, dressed as an American Minuteman defending a wooden fort against the red-coated Sam von Schamm (or Schmamm), the Hessian, defending a large stone fortress. Sam's fortress is heavily armored, bristling with artillery; by contrast, Bugs' defenses are rather pathetic, with only one cannon.
Regardless, Sam is the only one manning his fort, which makes capturing Bugs' difficult considering the rabbit is able to retaliate by capturing his simultaneously. Sam attempts to continue his bombardment, but Bugs is able to put up a defence by simply catching his enemy's cannonballs with his own cannon fire them back. When Bugs tires of that contest, he is able to fire a large cork to plug Sam's main mortar and maneuver Sam to find himself shot in the face when he tries to remove it.
Frustrated, Sam burrows his way under his base and into Bugs' base using a pickaxe. Upon surfacing, Sam lights a match, only to find that he has emerged in a room full of TNT. The room explodes, with Sam stumbling out, dazed.
A last gambit, Sam attempts to use a keg of gunpowder to blow up Bug's base; unbeknownst to Sam, gunpowder falls into Sam's back pocket due to a hole in the keg, creating a trail of explosives. After Sam lights the fuse, Bugs, sitting on the powder keg and munching a carrot, calmly extinguishes it and nonchalantly lights the trail of gunpowder left by Sam. Fleeing from the inevitable trail, Sam runs away from the base and up an apple tree, only to have the tree explode on him.
At this setback, a thoroughly defeated Sam admits that he is a "Hessian without no aggression," and decides to defect to the rebels. To this, Bugs and Sam march in a fife-and-drum march reminiscent of the Archibald Willard painting The Spirit of '76 playing the song The Girl I Left Behind Me. | psychedelic | train | wikipedia | Bugs And Sam Fight It Out In 1776.
It's 1776 and the Revolutionary War is on.
No, it's not "Bunker Hill," as the graphic first shows.
It's not "Yorktown," it's the "Battle of Bagle Heights." (Okaaay.)Anyway, the "battle" is strictly between two contestants, the only ones at each fort.
Yosemite Sam, known in this picture as "Sam Von Schmamm, the Hussion," battles Bugs Bunny.Most of the cartoon features the two adversaries firing cannons at one another or charging each other with bayonets.
Needless to say, ole Sam takes the worst of it on each occasion.
Although it's strictly a one-joke cartoon, I enjoyed it.
I laughed at some of the old-time clichés and expressions Sam used while yelling at Bugs, such as: "You ornery, fur-bearing rebel!
You'll pay for this!
You better say your prayers, you flea-bitten varmit!"Bugs has only one reply: "Ah, your mother blows bubble gum!".
What you would expect from a Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny cartoon, but it still has its moments..
"Bunker Hill Bunny" has quite an old-fashioned appeal about it.
It is one of the slightly older Looney Tunes cartoons and it is vaguely set in 1776.
The jokes are usual for a YS and BB short, but there is the occasional witty speaking or slapstick joke.Basically, Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam are two separate sides of the "Bagel" battle and they have their own forts and their own cannons and guns within their forts.
Bugs Bunny, of course, fights against Yosemite Sam and the consequences are not overly surprising, but nevertheless pretty amusing to watch.This cartoon moved along a little slowly, which may put off certain viewers.
Bugs Bunny was particularly good in this episode (usually he is anyway when paired with Yosemite Sam - sometimes he is not).
Also, the balance between the slapstick and speaking jokes is surprisingly similar.
I might not watch it again, but it was good for a single viewing.I recommend this to people who like traditional Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny Looney Tunes and to people who like a good balance of slapstick and speaking jokes.
Enjoy "Bunker Hill Bunny"!
very fun.
Yosemite Sam battles it out with Bugs Bunny in the little known "Battle of Bagel Heights" in the American War of Independence.
I've seen this one on TV so often growing up that I could quote the whole thing word for word by the time I was nine.
My head tells me there are way better Looney Tunes shorts out there, but my heart tells me that this is one of the most fun.
My heart wins out for the most part and this short never fails to bring a smile upon my face no matter what mood that I'm in.
This animated short can be found on disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1.My Grade: A.
The usual hijinks....
...only this time not up to the usual high standard.
It's a one-joke cartoon that kinda stretches it's premise too thin.Bugs is his usual self but Yosemite Sam is now Sam Von Schamm The Hessian and during the American Revolutionary War they have a face-off in the Battle of Bagel Heights.
Basically, this involves Bugs doing his usual outsmarting of Sam and torturing him, blowing him up etc.
Most of the time this never gets tiring.Though some of the jokes drag on bit but the others have that sense of perfect timing only Looney Tunes are capable of.
Not their best work but still good for a few silly laughs..
Patriotism as it should be!.
More of Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam facing off, this time set during the Revolutionary War (in the Battle of Bagle Heights; go figure!).
As always, Sam - in this case his name is Sam Von Schamm the Hessian - tries to get Bugs but Bugs always outsmarts him.
Much of the humor involves explosives (well duh, they're at war).
I will say that some of the scenes drug on a little too long, but the whole end gag pretty much makes up for any shortcomings.So, "Bunker Hill Bunny" may not be the best Looney Tunes cartoon ever, but it certainly has its moments.
It's not cannon fodder (pun intended) in any way."If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." Well, there are certain groups whom I would never join..
"I'm a Hessian without no aggression.
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em".
Not Bugs Bunny or Yosemite Sam at their best, but anybody who loves the two characters whether individually or together will find much to like here in 'Bunker Hill Bunny'.A couple of the gags do drag on a little longer than they should do, and as 'Bunker Hill Bunny' is pretty one-joke it's a tad repetitive (inevitable for one-joke cartoons).
However even when Bugs and Sam were not at their best, they still were always watchable and even their weaker cartoons (not saying this is) are better than those of most other Looney Tunes partnerships.The animation is as ever excellent, made during a period when Looney Tunes were at their peak in quality (which was a long time until they went into decline around the mid-60s).
As said in my review for 'Hare Lift' from two years later, the animation is drawn absolutely beautifully, the colours are vibrant but never garish and there is a lot of meticulous detail here.
Both Bugs and Yosemite Sam are well drawn and their movements move easily, Sam here being more kinetic in movement is a touch more expressive.Carl Stalling is my favourite of the regular Looney Tunes composers and one of few cartoon composers to never put a foot wrong.
His music score for 'Bunker Hill Bunny' is no exception.
As always with Stalling, the music is supremely characterful and energetic, the orchestration is lush and clever and most importantly aside from that it's very memorable it fits with to the action and adds to it, Stalling also showing his perhaps unmatched ability at that time to enhance the action, especially when scenes get more energised and desperate.If anybody is looking for good dialogue and gags in a Bugs Bunny/Yosemite Sam cartoon, they won't be disappointed.
There are some very witty and hilarious lines here, both from Bugs and Sam that show off their character traits brilliantly.
Despite 'Bunker Hill Bunny' being a one-joke cartoon there is enough variation in most of the gags to make them funny and most are timed very well, with Sam getting the worst of it.
The part with the gunpowder in Sam's pants is just priceless.Both Bugs and Sam demonstrate what makes them such great characters in the first place, and their chemistry is gleefully enjoyable.
Mel Blanc provides some bravura voice work for both characters, especially as abrasive Sam.Overall, very solid, well-made and fun but not among the best Bugs and Yosemite Sam outings.
8/10 Bethany Cox.
I'm a gonna blow ya to smithereenies!".
Set in the Revolutionary War, this short pits minuteman Bugs Bunny against Hessian Sam von Schamm (Yosemite Sam).
The two charge at each other a lot, exchanging cannon fire and even swapping forts.
It's all fast-paced and funny.
You know what you're getting from a Bugs vs Sam short and this one doesn't disappoint.
The jokes and gags are all funny.
Even the baseball gags, which are hardly fresh, are fun to watch.
At one point Sam tells Bugs he has him "outnumbered one to one." I'm not sure if that was the first time Sam used this line but it wouldn't be the last.
My favorite bit was when Sam was carrying the barrel of gunpowder from his fort to Bugs' and not realizing it was leaking into his pants.
You can predict what will happen next but it's still hilarious to watch..
A well-rounded but occasionally dull cartoon.
Friz Freleng's 'Bunker Hill Bunny' literally opens with a bang as a series of explosions frame captions informing us that it is 1776 and our setting is the battle of Bagle Heights.
Two opposing forts (with the beautifully satirical identifying flags "They" and "We") exchange cannon fire.
The inhabitants of these forts turn out to be Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam a.k.a. Sam Von Schamme the Hessian.
So the scene is set for battle.
As a child I always enjoyed these cartoons in which the characters fight from a distance and I still think it puts an interesting spin of the formula.
Bugs has to do all his heckling across the constant large space between him and Sam. This results in a different style of comedy than in the majority of cartoons in which Bugs can be more hands-on.
Unfortunately, it also results in a couple of lengthy back-and-forth gags involving flags and cannonballs that quickly become repetitive and tedious.
These moments aside (admittedly, the cannonball routine has a very funny punchline) 'Bunker Hill Bunny' is a reliably enjoyable if unremarkable short.
There's enough good lines ("I've got you outnumbered one to one") and sight gags ("He Got It!") to counter the dull or predictable jokes and keep most cartoon fans contented until the neatly wrapped-up climax..
Bunker Hill Bunny is another Bugs Bunny-Yosemite Sam cartoon.
Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam are at it again!
This time, it's the Revolutionary War at the Battle of Bagel Heights.
The rabbit and the ornery short guy are the only people at their respective forts and neither wants to give up their base of operations.
As they keep charging into each other's forts, flags saying "We" with a carrot (Bugs', of course) and "They" (Sam's) change places inside each.
They also charge cannon balls at each other with the rabbit always catching his inside the cannon and Sam doing the same until Bugs plugs a cork on Sam's cannon.
Wanna guess what happens when Sam pulls the cork from his?
I'll stop here and say this was another funny cartoon short from Friz Freling.
And remember, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.".
Bugs and Sam. Bunker Hill Bunny (1950) *** 1/2 (out of 4)Set during the Revolutionary War, Bugs Bunny must protect his fort from the mean-spirited Sam Von Schamm The Hessian (Yosemite Sam).
The two are constantly at battle but poor old Sam always finds a way to be out smarted.
This is yet another winning film that takes the Bugs and Sam characters and does wonders with them.
The movie contains action from the opening to closing scenes and there are plenty of laughs sprinkled in as well.
I'm not sure what it is but there's just something special about seeing poor Sam constantly getting blown up.
The toughness that his character talks just seems all the more funny because he's never tough enough to win.
The scene with the gunpowder in Sam's pants is a classic..
"You better say your prayers, you flea-bitten varmint!".
"You better say your prayers, you flea-bitten varmint!".
The American Revolution.
And two of the most unlikely characters ever to participate: Bugs Bunny and Sam Von Schmamm the Hessian (Yosemite Sam).
This becomes the setting for "Bunker Hill Bunny", directed by Friz Freleng.The true delight of this cartoon is the repetition of Sam getting himself blasted by cannon fire.
Three examples that stand out are: Sam and Bugs repeatedly exchanging cannonballs; Sam charging inside Bugs' cannon, then getting blasted into the air and landing back inside his own fort with another explosion; and Sam marching towards Bugs' fort while playing a snare drum, then getting blasted by a cannon, turning around, and quickly marching back to his own fort with the drum cadence sped up.One of the other advantages of "Bunker Hill Bunny" is Bugs' nonchalant attitude as Sam attacks his fort.
This only adds to the humor of Sam's ineptitude; Bugs always seems to KNOW that he, Bugs, is in control and that Sam will never outwit him..
When nuclear weapons are outlawed .
. only outlaws will have nukes, Warner Bros.
argues with its animated short, BUNKER HILL BUNNY.
Bugs Bunny turns his giant cannon here into an "Iron Dome" defense shield, catching all of Yosemite Sam's cannonballs and lobbing them back into the muzzle from which they issued.
Sam is playing the part of a Hessian terrorist here, but he could just as easily be North Korean, Persian, or Kentuckian in this timeless tale.
Warner's bottom line is that Bugs must fight fire with fire, so why shouldn't America have a National Nuke Association (NNA) for anyone who can afford the dues?
After all, nukes don't kill people--people do.
If you're a corporate CEO making 10,000 times the median annual American wage, WHY should you need to pay 100 employees to guard your stuff with assault rifles?
What if your security staff is attacked by 200 shotgun-wielding socialists bent upon income redistribution?
BUNKER HILL BUNNY contends that if you can afford to defend your stuff with private nukes, who is the government to tell you "No!"?
Bugs and Sam have their own private cannons here.
You and I and Bill Gates should not be denied our nukes! |
tt0023731 | 20,000 Years in Sing Sing | Cocky Tommy Connors (Spencer Tracy) is sentenced from 5 to 30 years in Sing Sing for robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. His associate, Joe Finn (Louis Calhern), promises to use his contacts and influence to get him freed long before that, but his attempt to bribe the warden to provide special treatment is met with disdain and failure.
Connors makes trouble immediately, but several months confined to his cell changes his attitude somewhat. As the warden had predicted, Connors is only too glad to do some honest work on the rockpile after his enforced inactivity.
Nonetheless, his determination to break out is unshaken. Bud Saunders (Lyle Talbot), a highly educated fellow prisoner, recruits him and Hype (Warren Hymer) for a complicated escape attempt. By chance, however, it is scheduled for a Saturday, which Connors superstitiously regards as always unlucky for him. He backs out, forcing Saunders to take another volunteer. The warden is tipped off and, though two guards are killed, the escape is foiled. Trapped, Saunders jumps to his death. His two accomplices are captured and returned to their cells.
Meanwhile, Connors' girlfriend, Fay Wilson (Bette Davis), visits him regularly in prison since his trial. On one visit, she admits she has become friendly and close to Finn in order to encourage him to help Connors, but Connors tells her that she is only giving Finn a reason to keep him locked up in jail.
The warden shows Connors a telegram that says that Wilson was injured in a car accident; there is no hope for her. Then, he gives Connors a 24-hour leave to see her; Connors promises to return, no matter what. When he sees Wilson, he learns that Finn was responsible for her injuries. He takes out a gun from a drawer, but Wilson persuades him to give her the pistol. Finn shows up, however, expecting her to sign a statement exonerating him in exchange for $5000 she intended to give to Connors. Connors attacks him. When it seems that Finn is about to kill her boyfriend, Wilson shoots him. Connors flees, taking the gun with him; Wilson secretly slips the money into his pocket. Before he dies, Finn names Connors as his killer.
The warden is lambasted in the newspapers for letting Connors go. Just when he is about to sign a letter of resignation, Connors walks in. He is found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in the electric chair, despite a recovered Wilson's testimony that she killed Finn. Connors comforts her before being taken to death row. | murder | train | wikipedia | A good entry in the early prison-drama cycle.Spencer Tracy is good as the cocky inmate.Arthur Byron has an unusual part as the sympathetic warden of Sing Sing.There aren't too many of them in movies.The action sequences in the movie are expertly handled by Curtiz.Bette Davis does a good job in a small part.Louis Calhern is suitably slimy.The ending is typically of the times in which it were made..
Spencer Tracy is on death row in "20,000 Years in Sing Sing," a 1932 film from Warner Brothers.
Tracy here plays Tom Connors, basically a Cagney role, an arrogant tough guy who plans on taking over the prison.
His authoritative acting made him suitable for dramatic leads.Nevertheless, Tracy pulls off this role, and Bette Davis is adorable as his girlfriend Fay. Lyle Talbot is on hand as a fellow prisoner, and Arthur Byron has a good turn as the warden, whom he makes decent and sympathetic.This is no "I Was a Fugitive From a Chain Gang," but it's pretty good..
Betty Davis (Fay Wilson,) "Hell's House",'32, looked like a knock out in those days, as a very sexy looking blond that caused Spencer Tracy(Tom Connors),"Bottoms Up",34, to say to her that, '"She was So Hot", she drove him Crazy with Desire".
Louis Calhern, (Finny),"Duck Soup",'33, was a crooked lawyer for Tom Connors and also decided to hit on sexy Fay Wilson, while his client was working in Sing Sing on the Rock Pile.
20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932) ** 1/2 (out of 4) A tough guy (Spencer Tracy) gets 5-30 in Sing Sing but he thinks the journey will be easy due to his connections on the outside.
The Warden (Arthur Byron) eventually reforms the guy but when his girlfriend (Bette Davis) gets injured, the Warden offers the man one night outside the prison if he promises to return the following day.
This Michael Curtiz directed prison drama is pretty good, although it really doesn't offer us anything new or original.
The story eventually falls apart in the middle section but Tracy and Davis, in their only film together, makes it worth watching..
It's unfortunate that the one and only teaming of Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis was early in their careers when neither really had a chance to show what they were capable of.Tracy was under contract to Fox at this time and Fox loaned him to Warner Brothers and at that time Tracy was playing all kinds of mug parts.
Here he does a role that James Cagney must have turned down over at Warner Brothers.Tracy is a gangster who's freshly arrived at Sing Sing doing a five to thirty year stretch for some unnamed offense.
While in New York Tracy and Calhern mix it up, because Calhern's now on the make for Tracy's girlfriend Bette Davis.Now one could argue that this was an example of progressive thinking on the warden's part.
I will say that Louis Calhern is the best one in the film, he is one sleazebag for the ages.In fact 20,000 Years in Sing Sing only gets as high a rating as it does because of Tracy and Davis.
Good thing Davis fought for better roles and Tracy's potential was only really explored after he got to MGM..
He plays tough guy Tommie Connors, who thinks his connections on the outside will make his prison term an easy one.
A stern, but kind hearted warden and a faithful girlfriend are key figures in the plot.This is the only time Tracy and Bette Davis shared the screen.
I was quite disappointed.The movie starts out promising enough, with Spencer Tracy as a hardened tough guy being hauled off to Sing Sing.
The actors did well with their individual roles (including a very young and beautiful Bette Davis) and the story moved fairly apace, but in the end it added up to a whole lot of nothing for me.To top it off, there were some inconsistencies and/or hard-to-follow plot developments that bothered me: 1 - During a psychological test session to determine which manual labor to place the prisoners in, Tracy and Lyle Talbot do good enough on their puzzle to earn the "shoe shop" (top of the line job at the prison, according to the story), but dolt Hype can't fit the square piece into the square slot even after 5 minutes, so he is assigned lavatory duty.
(I prefer not to think it's the latter!) Overall, it was fun to watch Tracy and Davis early in their careers, but honestly wasn't really worth having to sit through this movie in order to do so..
Both are quite good but I prefer this original film...slightly.The film begins with Tommy Connors (Spencer Tracy) arriving at Sing Sing.
The warden (Arthur Byron) puts Tommy in his place...and informs him that if he doesn't want to work or wear a prison uniform, he didn't have to...even if that meant going outside in the winter in rags!
I was blown away by the acting of Tracy and Arthur Byron (who plays the warden at Sing Sing).
The fine cast backing him up includes Bette Davis, Louis Calhern, Lyle Talbot, and Arthur Byron.
This might be the first prison movie to use the plot device of a convict being granted 24-hour leave for but doesn't return on time for one reason or another.
This is a story about good-hearted crook Tommy Connors (Spencer Tracy), the warden of the prison he's in (Arthur Byron) and his girlfriend Fay Wilson (Bette Davis) in that order of importance.
Furthermore, even after I watched corresponding scenes several times, I still do not get what exactly happened to Fay and what was her real medical state.The only character that displays considerable inner feelings is well described by Spencer Tracy's fine acting.
The rest of the crew is easily recognized as a standard reliable Warner Bros troupe which almost invisibly slips from one film to another.It is worth watching Spencer Tracy in his early acting role (not so for Bette Davis) and for the objective review of prison life in 1930s.
"20,000 Years in Sing Sing" was the only film Spencer Tracy made at "Warner Bros." He was a last minute replacement for James Cagney who had been suspended by the studio at the time.
I thought Tracy did a fine job as the arrogant and pompous hoodlum who thinks he will be treated like royalty whilst serving a prison sentence.
Bette Davis doesn't have much screen time but when she is in the film, she has good scenes with Spencer Tracy.
One of the biggest draws of this movie is that it features a couple of legends, Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis, a little bit before they hit it big.
Tracy plays a big-time criminal who is imprisoned, and Davis is his girlfriend waiting for him on the outside.
Partially filmed on location in Sing Sing, director Michael Curtiz does a good job of making use of the setting and varying his camera angles.
I liked how there is a sense of honor from both the screen warden (Arthur Byron) and Tracy's character, even though they are on different sides of the law.
Above average prison drama featuring the only Spencer Tracy-Bette Davis pairing.
Michael Curtiz directed this above average prison, crime drama adapted from the book of the same name written by Lewis Lawes (who really was a Warden at Sing Sing!) by Courtney Terrett and Robert Lord, with a screenplay by Wilson Mizner and Brown Holmes.
It stars Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis (their only film together), as well as Arthur Byron and Louis Calhern (among others).The title refers to the cumulative sentencing time of all the inmates held at the famous New York state prison.The film was later remade by director Anatole Litvak as Castle on the Hudson (1940) with John Garfield, Ann Sheridan, Pat O'Brien, and Jerome Cowan (respectively).Since I saw the latter first, the plot summary is contained within my review of that film on IMDb.com.As far as I can tell, there is little difference between the two films.
In fact, their run-times are within 5 minutes of each other; this one is the longer of the two, and its ending does drag a bit.Even though Tracy played a number of tough characters early in his career (like Davis, this was one of his first 10-15 roles), I think Garfield was better suited to the role.
Tracy's character is named Tom Connors in this one.Ms. Davis, who is perhaps my favorite actress (and the greatest who ever lived?), wasn't as much of a factor in her ingenue days (e.g. in this film, as Fay Wilson, she didn't stand out) as she was later in her career whereas Ms. Sheridan (whose performance is very good) was given more to do in the remake.Byron, who was in scant few films, does a credible job if not as effusive as O'Brien, as Warden Long.
Calhern's lawyer Joe Finn isn't much different from the one Cowan played.The role that's changed the most between the films is that of the death row prison priest, played by an uncredited actor (Hardie Albright?) in this one and John Litel, who's given a little more screen-time in the latter.
20,000 YEARS IN SING SING (First National Pictures, 1932/33), directed by Michael Curtiz, with screen adaptation of the book by Warden Lewis E.
Though prison melodramas have been around dating back to the silent movie era, its popularity reached its peak following the releases of THE BIG HOUSE (MGM, 1930), THE CRIMINAL CODE (Columbia, 1930), or HELL'S HIGHWAY (RKO Radio, 1932), but nothing as strong and powerful as I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHANG GANG (Warner Brothers, 1932) starring Paul Muni.
Other actors might have been considered for the lead, ranging from the studios' own James Cagney or Douglas Fairbanks Jr., for instance, but Spencer Tracy, on loan from Fox Studios, turned out to be a very good choice, marking this his one and only opportunity working with another star on the rise, and that's Bette Davis.
Tommy Connors (Spencer Tracy) is introduced as a tough guy with political connections whose troublesome past consists of numerous charge convictions dating back to 1919.
With his latest assault with a deadly weapon, Tommy is sentenced to serve from five to thirty years in a prison that, to him, "sounds like a chop suey joint." Along for the ride is Joe Finn (Louis Calhern), his friend and lawyer, to offer Warden Long (Arthur Byron) a bribe of $5,000 worth of bonds for Tommy's early parole.
The warden soon takes a special interest in Tommy, especially after he refuses to join with the other convicts on a prison break only because it's to take place on his jinx day which is Saturday.
When the warden is notified that Tommy's love of his life, Fay Wilson (Bette Davis), has been serious injured from an automobile accident that has left her in critical condition, he allows the convict temporary release without a guard to be with her.
After the guilty party is gunned down, Tommy, believed to be the guilty party, disappears, forcing the warden to now face the prison board.Other members of the cast include convicts Lyle Talbot (Bud Saunders); and Warren Hymer (Hype); and uncredited appearances by Sheila Terry (Babe Saunders); Nella Walker (Mrs. Long); Harold Huber (Tony); Edward McNamara (Guard Richards); Rockcliffe Fellowes, Clarence Wilson, among others.While somewhat contrived through its second half, 20,000 YEARS IN SING SING works on both levels in story content and entertainment.
The prison escape sequence is well staged and like many prison melodramas at the time, especially those coming from Warner Brothers/First National Pictures during the Depression era, attempts were made in every way to become as realistic as possible.
Once seen, it's hard to forget the impressive opening and closing credit montage of prisoners and year numbers floating about before the official title the life prison term of 20,000 YEARS IN SING SING appearing across the screen superimposed over the aerial view of Sing Sing Prison itself.20,000 YEARS IN SING SING was parodied along with I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG as a comedy short titled "20,000 Cheers for the Chain Gang," and later remade and altered by Warner Brothers (1940) as CASTLE ON THE HUDSON with John Garfield, Ann Sheridan and Pat O'Brien in the Tracy, Davis and Byron roles.
Good gangster drama, even though Spencer Tracy is a little bit out of place playing that part but still good movie.
No, I'm not saying all endings should be a happy, typically-Hollywood, one, but this just seems...contrived.Solid performances by Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis and Arthur Byron..
After several assaults with a deadly weapon, gangster Spencer Tracy (as Thomas "Tommy" Connors) goes to spend 5-30 years in New York's "Sing Sing" prison.
Tracy is made to wear his underwear - long johns, actually, and nobody changed the scripted line about how Tracy's legs made him look like Marlene Dietrich, after the wardrobe change...Tracy is allowed kissing time with shapely blonde girlfriend Bette Davis (as Fay Wilson).
This was the only pairing of Tracy and Davis.****** 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (12/24/32) Michael Curtiz ~ Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis, Arthur Byron, Lyle Talbot.
Early prison drama benefits from direction by Michael Curtiz....
began their grim social dramas in the '30s and 20,000 YEARS IN SING SING is a good companion piece to their other blockbuster drama I WAS A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG.If this one had been made ten years later, it would have starred Humphrey Bogart (a much more convincing tough guy prisoner than Tracy), and Ann Sheridan would have played the gangster's moll.
Here the roles are essayed by SPENCER TRACY and BETTE DAVIS, both of them effective although not as well cast as Bogart and Sheridan would have been.Tracy is the swaggering bully who thinks life owes him something, even in prison, and only after some hardships behind prison walls does he begin to respond to the humanity of a good warden.
LYLE TALBOT has a good supporting role as a rebellious prisoner bent on making a break and LOUIS CALHERN is fine as Joe Finn, a con man who gets his comeuppance from Tracy and Davis in a well staged fight scene.Good, grim social drama has all the usual melodramatic overtones of the '30s dramas but still packs a punch even though it's a time capsule of prison life then.
The film opens proper with a train containing cocky new inmate Tom Connors (Spencer Tracy) hurtling towards Sing Sing, the central conflict between penitentiary depersonalization and a larger-than-life personality set into motion in just two scenes.
A few select scenes seemed to be filmed on location along the Hudson River.I always saw Spencer Tracy's breakout film as being "Fury", made 4 years later, but after seeing this again, I would have to say this was a dramatic breakthrough for him.
Two other performances worth mentioning here are that of Bette Davis as Tracy's love interest...really quite beautiful here; and that of the warden, played superbly by Arthur Byron.A fine movie.
The warden, trusting Tracy, gives him a temporary leave when he learns that Davis has been in a car accident and will probably not survive.
Tracy intends to return (even if facing execution), but is involved in a murder, and the warden faces the wrath of the press and considers resigning his job.This prison drama doesn't totally sugarcoat conditions in the penal system, but something tells me that even in Pre-Code Hollywood, there was more going on at Sing Sing than what is presented here.
Still, when you've got an actor like Tracy, a rising star like Davis, some sizzling dialog, and tight direction by Michael Curtiz, the result is a cracking crime drama that made Warner Brothers movies the most realistic and gritty before that nasty production code come along and took the sass out of their sails..
20,000 Years in Sing Sing" is set in the notorious jail in New York State; the title refers to the combined length of the sentences being served by all the inmates of the prison.
Lawes, the warden of Sing Sing at the time the movie was made.
Some prison dramas from this era, notably "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang", highlighted harsh prison conditions and called for reform, but this one is generally supportive of the system.The film opens with a gangster named Tommy Connors arriving in Sing Sing after being convicted of robbery and assault with a lethal weapon.
Its main weakness is that the plot is not always easy to follow, but Tracy's performance and the way in which director Michael Curtiz handles Tommy's central dilemma- whether to stay true to his word at the possible cost of his life- means that it retains enough dramatic intensity to keep it watchable even today, more than seventy years after it was made.
Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis give some energized performances in this rather lean story line about a hot tempered con who who attains rehabilitation through execution.
There's a decent botched prison break but as films about the joint go 20,0000 Years in Sing Sing is short but hard time.
Swaggering Tommy Connors (Spencer Tracy) has been given a stretch in Sing Sing but he doesn't plan on staying there long or playing by their rules.
Another great gangster / prison drama from early 30s Hollywood.
Tracy is great in a part which almost out - Cagneys Cagney, one moment chewing out the prison guards in defiance, the next playing a tender love with his girl, a ridiculously young and surprisingly alluring Bette Davis.
The other main character, the honourable warden, winningly played by Arthur Byron, forms the other side of the triangle with Tracy and Davis, his faith in Tracy keeping his word to turn himself in vindicated against even his own expectations.
Obvious doubles are used in the Tracy-Calhern fight scene, but otherwise Curtiz's direction ensures the action spots, especially those in the prison, are powerfully staged. |
tt0042899 | Rocky Mountain | A car pulls up to an historical marker in the desert that reads:
ROCKY MOUNTAIN, also known as Ghost Mountain. On March 26, 1865, a detachment of Confederate cavalry crossed the state line into California under secret orders from Gen. Robert E. Lee to rendezvous at Ghost Mountain with one Cole Smith, with instructions to place the flag atop the mountain, and though their mission failed, the heroism displayed by these gallant men honored the cause for which they fought so valiantly.
In 1865, eight horsemen trek across the California desert, arriving at Ghost Mountain. Led by Captain Lafe Barstow (Errol Flynn) of the Mississippi Mounted Rifles. The eight soldiers encounter a man who calls himself California Beal (Howard Petrie). As a last desperate effort to turn the tide of the war, Barstow's mission is to persuade Cole Smith and his 500 men to raid California on behalf of the Confederacy. From their vantage point on the mountain, the men see a Shoshone war party attack a stagecoach. Barstow's men charge and drive off the Shoshone after the stage overturns, rescuing driver Gil Craigie (Chubby Johnson ) and the only surviving passenger, Johanna Carter (Patrice Wymore), traveling to join her fiancé, Union Army officer Lt. Rickey (Scott Forbes).
That night, the Indians burn the stage. Next morning, a detachment of four Union soldiers and three Shoshone scouts examine the ashes. Barstow's men ambush the detachment, killing one and capturing the rest, including Lt. Rickey. From them, Barstow learns that the Union knows about their presence in California and that California Beal is actually Cole Smith himself. Smith leaves, promising to return in two days with his men. Craigie talks with the Shoshone scouts and learns that they are really a chief, Man Dog, and his sons. He warns Barstow that they will escape and return with their tribe. That night, while Jimmy (Dickie Jones) is on watch, the Indians try to escape. The soldiers kill two of them, but Man Dog evades their bullets.
In the morning, Rickey suggests that he take Johanna to a nearby garrison before the Indians arrive. Barstow, however, hopes that Smith's men will come before the Indians do and rejects the suggestion. Near dawn, Rickey's men jump their guards. One dies in the attempt, and another's recaptured, but Rickey makes his escape. The Southerners find a riderless horse but it turns out to be Smith's, not Rickey's, and they realize that help is not coming.
Barstow decides to use all his men to lure the Indians away from the mountain while Johanna, Craigie and the Union trooper escape. The greatly outnumbered Rebels ride into a box canyon and turn to fight, charging the Shoshone. During the battle, Rickey returns with a troop of Union cavalry, and Johanna tells Rickey what has happened. The cavalry attempt to save Barstow's men but are too late; all the Southerners have been killed. Rickey raises their rebel flag on top of Rocky Mountain to salute the bravery of their fallen foes. | violence | train | wikipedia | It is realistic and reminiscent of "Little Big Horn", starring John Ireland and Lloyd Bridges.As a confederate officer fighting a lost war, Errol and his companions save stranded stage coach travelers from Indians on the warpath.
It's often a miracle there's any scenery left uneaten to finish the movie with!"Rocky Mountain" is one of Flynn's better films (of many good ones), and as always, this underrated actor is real and natural.
Errol Flynn brings a world-weary look and an understated performance to this William Keighley directed Western.
The middle though,does drag a bit.The characters of the confederate soldiers are very well established and should elicit sympathy and respect.This was Errol Flynn's last western, and , while he was no longer in his prime and looks older and a little weathered, he is perfect for the role of a man who has seen too much war.
Very refreshing western film starring Errol Flynn and Patrice Wymore, his last wife/widow who remembers Flynn much more gently than previous wives.
This film sketches out the story of a tiny band of rebel soldiers led by Flynn's character, Lafe Barstow, whose mission is to wait for a rebel renegade to rendezvous with them atop Rocky Mountain, originally called Ghost Mountain.
This was the last Western film Flynn starred in and it's one he gives a solid performance.
The story begins near the end of the Civil War. Confederate soldiers led by Flynn are sent to California to recruit more men.
Flynn's leading lady in this film, Patrice Wymore, would become his third and final wife in real life.
It's a nice cast with some colorful characters actors like Guinn Williams, Howard Petrie, Chubby Johnson, Dickie Jones, and Slim Pickens in his film debut.
There are some great angled shots, clever compositions, and the director does well with the action sequences.The screenplay dispenses with all the heavy-handed messages and over-the-top, unfunny comedy sequences one might find in a Ford film, and aims its sites on a human drama of confederate soldiers on a mission who are forced to go to Plan B, C, and D in order to not only complete their mission, but to get two Yankee civilians to safety in spite of entanglements with Union soldiers and Indians on the war path.
He was absolutely wonderful in the part and it's a shame he quit the business to go into real estate...I really think he might have had an Oscar in his future had he continued making movies.This is not a perfect film by any means, but with strong performances, beautiful scenery, and interesting direction, this "John Ford Lite" Western has enough going for it to make up for any of its shortcomings.
He plays a Confederate officer ,sent to California with a small troop to make contact with Southern sympathisers with the aim of stirring up rebellion in the state and diverting Union resources from other battle fronts.Two problems arise --the promised support is not forthcoming and he is sidetracked when riding to the rescue of a stagecoach coming under Indian attack.It proves to contain the fiancee of the local Union cavalry commander and when a troop is sent out to find her Flynn is forced to take them captive as well.When Native American scouts of the Union army turn out to be traitors and launch an attack his hands become even more full.
Effectively shot in black and white there are some good action scenes and the acting is fine ,but it suffers by comparison to other "Indian attack " movies like "Apache Drums " Not bad but a notch or two short of classic status.
Rocky Mountain is directed by William Keighley and written by Winston Miller and Alan Le May. It stars Errol Flynn, Patrice Wymore, Scott Forbes, Guinn Williams, Dick Jones, Howard Petrie and Slim Pickens.
As it is, it's a great film regardless.Plot has Flynn leading a small group of Confederates into California to hopefully curry favour from Cole Smith (Petrie).
Paired with a director clearly able to tap into something more than being a flirtatious good looking hero, Flynn gives Captain Lafe Barstow a dignified elegance, becoming a leader of men of some considerable substance - and crucially he has screenwriters and producers willing to give us a sombre story.Filmed out in New Mexico, the surrounds magnificent, it's brilliant how Keighley and McCord cloak the story in a claustrophobic aura.
Flynn's men are a great bunch, lovable tough boy rogues each with their own fallible core, while the mystery element of Cole Smith's involvement in proceedings, and that of the looming Indian War, keeps the narrative interesting.Wymore would soon become the next in line of Flynn's wives, but there's no hint of it here, the production team writing the characters apart in strong and believable fashion.
Comic relief is kept to an absolute minimum, rightly so, the only jovial sightings here are that when the canine of the piece is in flight, where Steiner steps away from moody Civil War flavours for a bit of jolification.It is however with the ending where the film could have died on its own sword or thrive, having asked us to invest greatly in Barstow's own - Magnificent Seven - Wild Bunch - The Professionals etc, we need to care about the outcome, to feel it.
The action excites, the stunts and speedy set plays hold court, then the heroism and chest pushed out bravery of it all pays us off - capped off by a character order that tingles the senses as Steiner gives us a "Dixie" lament.This may not have the bluster of Flynn's other more well known Westerns, and certainly it's not one to be picking up if one is after a mood lifter.
Not an especially great movie and it's slow moving in the middle.But here's the deal: Errol Flynn's character does VOICE OVER at the beginning.
By the time Errol made this film, he'd walked through a number of Westerns including his previous venture, where he played, of all things, a sheep-herder, in "Montanta".
Yet from the outhouse to the penthouse Flynn transitioned into Rocky Mountain which goes down as his last but also one of his best Westerns.There's an authentic, grainy feel in this black and white adventure by co-Robin Hood Director, William Keighley.
Of note are two great scenes where "real" Indians attack a stagecoach plus the final confrontation between Flynn's men.
Maybe it tells us a lot about the attitudes to race of the Hollywood film studios.Errol Flynn is a Confederate officer whose small band of men travel 2000 miles to California to meet up with southern sympathisers and outlaws to stir up rebellion.
They then have to contend with the girl's fiancé, a Union cavalry officer who comes looking for her with his troops and some Indian scouts.When it turns out that the Indian scouts have betrayed the Union soldiers, Flynn and his small army are overwhelmed by the Indians and decide to sacrifice themselves to save the girl.The film was photographed in New Mexico and has a John Ford feel to it with some of the photography, however the nighttime battle scenes ends up at the viewer looking at a dark screen!Flynn does well as a jaded but gallant officer but the film lacks action with plenty of lulls, there is some good horse chase sequences, a decent battle at the end with the Indians and a loyal dog that will bring a tear to the most cynical eye..
Errol Flynn was a great actor and he could save useless script or poor film.
THis one is nothing unusual - typical western of Civil War times, with all the impossibly trite clichés - Indians, rocks, horses, lady in love, long talks, terribly poor pavilion shots, bravura music, sped-up battles, silly faces and caricature evil men.
This somewhat off-beat Civil War western pairs an in-decline Errol Flynn with his 3rd wife, Patrice Wymore.
William Jacobs was producer and the solid direction was by William Keighley.Errol Flynn stars as a Confederate officer (his first time to do so) who with a small contingent of seven men travel 2000 miles to California to rendezvous with an outlaw who has promised to provide 500 men to join with them in the south's faltering struggle.
Excellent is Scott Forbes as the formidable Union officer and the girl's fiancé, Slim Pickens in his first movie, Sheb Wooley, the likable Chubby Johnson as the Stage driver and Howard Petrie as the dubious and distrustful outlaw Cole Smith.Beautifully photographed in Monochrome by ace cinematographer Ted McCord ("Treasure Of The Sierra Madre"/ "The Hanging Tree") in amazing location sites in and around Gallup, New Mexico the picture also boasts a brilliant score by the great Max Steiner.
"Rocky Mountain" is also part of a four movie western box set of Flynn which also contains "San Antonio", "Montana" and the excellent "Virginia City".Nice one - Warner Home Video but where oh where is "Silver River"??.
Says Lafe Barstow, captain in the army of the Confederate States of America, about his command: "Six rattle-headed kids and an old man...Kip Waterson, the baby-faced heir to a plantation...Pierre Duchesne, from French Louisiana...Pat Dennison, an old man, really, but a hard, reckless fighter who never gave ground while he lived...Kay Rawlins from the Mississippi steamboats, a rough and friendly man as the Indians now found out...Jimmy Wheat, a little red neck cropper who could fight like a wildcat with hydrophobia, who carried a useless little dog for 2,000 miles...Jonas Weatherby, the Texan, a seasoned plainsman at 18...Plank, another real plainsman, hard and bitter, with chain gang scars on his legs at 22..." They've come 2,000 miles with orders to raise an army among the Confederate sympathizers in California in a last-chance effort to draw the Union armies away from Lee. It's 1865.
"We just put it off awhile." Rocky Mountain, in its small-scale way, is a good movie..
The ending also smacks of "A Tale of Two Cities", with Barstow's bunch acting as a diversionary lure to deflect a capture of Union commander Rickey's fiancé: Johanna(Patrice Wymore) by the Shoshone.
Also, now realizing that their mission to help capture CA is a certain failure, even if they should escape, they change their mission to saving Johanna.Unlike most westerns of the time, there is little small talk humor in the film.
Errol Flynn was the hell raisers hellraiser lucky to survive to 50.However up to the early 1950s he could just about pull him self together to swash a reasonable buckle in such films as "Against all Flags" and "The Master of Ballentrae", even as late as 1955in the "Dark Avenger" there was still a trace of the old magnificent Flynn,then the rapid decline.Rocky Mountain was the last western Flynn made and it's not bad at all his lived in face was just right for the character he was playing a war weary Confederate cavalry captain called Lafe Barstow who in March 1865 is under orders with 7 troopers to travel 2000 miles to California meet up with local outlaw Cole Smith and his men and start a war there,mission impossible from the start.
things start to go wrong when they go to the rescue of a stagecoach under attack from a Shoshone war party they save the life of the driver and his young female passenger(Patrice Wymore) Things get even more complicated when her fiancé(Scot Forbes)a union officer is captured when he comes to her rescue.The plot then has many twists and turns,Forbes character escapes and is presumed killed when there is the sound of gun fire,with the Shoshone gathering for a mass attack Flynn and his men in an act of Southern chivalry decide to act as decoys to draw the Shoshone off allowing Miss Wymore and the stagecoach driver to make their escape the ruse works but Flynn and his men they find themselves trapped in a box canyon."they have seen our backs now let them see our faces"then with the Confederate banner flying they charge head first in to the Shoshone and are heroically slaughtered.
Flynn's demise is similar to his death in"They Died With There Boots On"Forbes has escaped but turns up to late with the Yankee cavalry,They are buried with full military honours and while the Confederate flag is flown from the highest butte the Warner Brothers choir sing a moving version of Dixie it is a truly awesome scene,Warner Brothers recycled it in all there t.v. westerns in the next decade when Ifirst saw this film as a lad the whole cinema audience stood up and cheered(we were all English for goodness sake)this is a fine film with many pleasures not least FLynn's boys Slim Pickens,Guinn Williams utterly reliable, Sheb Wooley who forgets his southern chivalry when he makes a pass at Miss Wymore he redeems him self at the end.
Dickie Jones plays a 16 year old he has a nice moment when he tells Miss Wymore of the time at Gettysburg when General Lee(the most beloved of American generals) graciously excepts a skillet lid of black eyed peas,"Thank you son that's elegent"Flynn mentions that he has a large plantation back home were the cotton fields extent as far as the eye can see does that make him a slave owner ha also says that his Lady died a long time ago,A natural death or a war crime the film dosen't elaborate on either point,indeed the causes of the war are not mentioned Flynn is excellent his charismatic officer is similar to the one he played in "Operation Burma"As a last thought the Confederate cavalry in films such as "The Last Outpost"and Two flags West" seem to spend all their time rescuing the Yankees from rampaging indians who are attacking their forts, it's a pity the yanks can't re turn the compliment here..
Excellent and underrated Western starring Errol Flynn.
And although Flynn's star was beginning to fade by this time, he is still excellent here -- a very pleasing mix of rugged and a gentleman.The story is a bit different than what we usually see in Western -- it's actually about a group of Confederate soldiers that are on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, preparing to raise a band of less than noble men to start trouble and turn the Civil War around by changing the balance of power in the West.
Errol Flynn (Lafe Barstow), Patrice Wymore (Johanna Carter), Scott Forbes (Lieutenant Rickey), Guinn "Big Boy" Williams (Pap Dennison), Dick Jones (Jim Wheat), Howard Petrie (Cole Smith), Slim Pickens (Plank), Chubby Johnson (Gil Craigie), Buzz Henry (Kip Waterson), Sheb Wooley (Kay Rawlins), Peter Coe (Pierre Duchesne), Rush Williams (Jonas Weatherby), Steve Dunhill (Ash), Alex Sharp (Barnes), Yakima Canutt (Ryan), Nakai Snez (Man Dog).Director: WILLIAM KEIGHLEY.
Censored to 7,427 feet (82 minutes) in the U.K.SYNOPSIS: Flynn's last western sees him as a Confederate officer sent with a small group of soldiers to California where they are supposed to meet with a powerful group of outlaws and persuade them to take the territory in the name of the Confederacy.
The Confederate soldiers repel the Indians and inside the stagecoach is a beautiful young woman, Wymore, who was on her way to meet her fiancé, Forbes, a Union Army officer.
The Confederates manage to capture the Yankees, but then the Indians launch a massive attack.NOTES: Film debut of Slim Pickens.COMMENT: Meticulously directed by William Keighley, incorporating a most exciting chase sequence (doubtless staged by Yakima Canutt) right at the very start, this beautifully photographed mainly-on- actual-locations, Civil War western runs through its 83 minutes in commendably short order.
Oh well, up until the finale in both pictures, he did a pretty good job.Actually, Flynn plays it decidedly low key here as Captain Lafe Barstow, leading a rag tag group of seven other un-uniformed Confederate soldiers on a mission in California.
No stranger to cavalry films, Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams appears as crusty veteran Pap Dennison, along with Western movie mainstays like Slim Pickens and Chubby Johnson.
Rocky Mountain High And Low. Rocky Mountain was the eighth and last western film for Errol Flynn and in it he plays in the climax a version of one of his better known cowboy epics, They Died With Their Boots On. While Flynn was leaving the genre, Rocky Mountain provided debuts for two character actors much associated with westerns, Slim Pickens and Sheb Woolley.
Does it get more ridiculous than that?On the way the group rescues Patrice Wymore from an Indian attack on a stagecoach along with driver Chubby Johnson and then captures a Yankee patrol sent after them because Wymore is the betrothed of army lieutenant Scott Forbes who is in command.
But on the plus side Rocky Mountain has some great location cinematography from New Mexico where it is shot and a great performance from Errol Flynn who is not playing a dashing hero, but a rather weary and jaded individual who is really sick of the war.
Not unlike the real Errol Flynn at the time.And it has a gallant charge right into the Indians as the Confederates make their last stand.
Rocky Mountain is not the greatest of westerns, but it's not a bad one for Errol Flynn to close that chapter of his career with..
"Rocky Mountain" represented Errol Flynn's last hurrah in a western at Warner Brothers.
This stalwart little 83-minute oater occurs against the backdrop of the American Civil War with Captain Lafe Barstow (Errol Flynn of "Virgina City") and a squad of Confederate soldiers riding into California to rendezvous with Southern sympathizers.
"G-Men" director William Keighley concluded his career with this feisty little western and "Rocky Mountain" is a good western, unlike the previous Flynn vehicle "Montana." Errol looks pretty tough in the opening scenes with a beard, but he shaves it off later so that he appears as he usually did with a mustache.
Seeing it again yesterday I realized how good this film is nowadays, of all Flynn' s westerns it is the one that less aged.
Great cinematography in black and white, great music by Max Steiner, great performance of Flynn, excellent actors like Slim Pickens. |
tt0368563 | Possession | A newly separated couple Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Stephanie Brenek (Kyra Sedgwick) live in different homes. After Clyde picks up their two children, Emily "Em" (Natasha Calis) and Hannah (Madison Davenport), for the weekend, they stop at a yard sale where Em becomes intrigued by an old wooden box that has Hebrew letters engraved on it. Clyde buys the box for Em, and they later find that there seems no way to open it. That night, Em hears whispering coming from the box. She is able to open it, and finds a tooth, a dead moth, a wooden figurine, and a ring, which she begins to wear. Em becomes solitary, and her behavior becomes increasingly sinister; she stabs her father in the hand with a fork during breakfast. That night, the house, especially Em's bedroom, becomes infested with moths.
At school, Em violently attacks a classmate when he takes her box, resulting in a meeting with Clyde, Stephanie, the principal and the teacher. Em's teacher recommends that she spend time away from the box, so it is left in the classroom. That night, curious about the mysterious noises from the box, the teacher tries to open it, but a malevolent force, the dybbuk, murders her by violently throwing her out a window. Em tells Clyde about an invisible hag who lives in her box who says that Em is "special". Alarmed by her behavior, Clyde attempts to dispose of the box. During their next weekend at Clyde's, Emily gets progressively more upset with the disappearance of the box. She begins yelling at Clyde in the hall with Hannah watching in the back. The dybbuk seems to slap Em across the face. She begins yelling, asking why he's hitting her, from Hannah's perspective it looks like her father actually does. Em flees the house, recovers the box and the dybbuk begins conversing with her in a strange language.
Clyde takes the box to a university professor who tells him that it is a dybbuk box that dates back to the 1920s; it was used to contain a dybbuk, a dislocated spirit as powerful as a devil. Clyde enters Em's room and reads Psalm 91; a dark but invisible force throws the Tanakh across the room. Clyde then travels to a Hasidic community in Brooklyn and learns from a Jewish priest named Tzadok (Matisyahu) that the possession has three main stages; in the third stage, the dybbuk latches onto its human host, becoming one entity with it. The only way to defeat the dybbuk is to lock it back inside the box via a forced ritual. Upon further examination on the box, Tzadok learns that the dybbuk's name is "Abyzou", or the "Taker of Children".
Em has a seizure and is taken to the hospital for an MRI. During the procedure, Stephanie and Hannah are horrified when they see the dybbuk's face in the MRI scans next to Em's heart. Clyde and Tzadok join the family at the hospital and attempt to conduct an exorcism. Where Em is taken to a room that has a tub full of water and a stretcher to keep Em stable during the exorcism. During the exorcism, the possessed Em attacks Tzadok. Clyde grabs Em from him, and Em runs out of the room. Clyde follows her out and finally finds her in the morgue where the lights are off. As he nears her, she starts to attack him. Clyde survives the attack, but the dybbuk is passed from Em to him. Tzadok performs a successful exorcism; Abyzou emerges from Clyde and crawls back into the box. The family is reunited, with Clyde and Stephanie's love rekindled. Tzadok drives away with the box in Clyde's vehicle. The car is hit by a truck, killing him. The box lands safely from the wreckage, and Abyzou's whispering is heard from it, the same Polish rhyme heard at the beginning of the film. | murder | train | wikipedia | this time around, I was most disappointed, expecting from the DVD sleeve promotion and the very title of the film, a demonic horror thriller.
No such thing.Another love triangle involving a young woman and two brothers, this is a soppy sentimental love story but I can see where people are coming from in thinking the husband Ryan has possessed the soul of his brother as a result of the accident.
they could have fed off the recent film 'Brothers' which had a war topic to the story and although not great, delivered the goods.
this film doesn't.There is no real drama or horror in this movie and the ending is macabre to say the least.
The acting is below standard even from the leading lady and the script is poor, the story told with so slow a pace it was excruciating.Checking IMDb, there are quite a few films by the same title and it was difficult at first to identify the correct film on which to post the review.There have been some very sensible and to the point comments by previous commentators about this movie.
This film is about a woman whose husband and her brother in law were injured in a serious car crash.
The alternate ending made me love it.If you go into this film under the misapprehension of the marketing - which is, that this film is another "Grudge" or whatever the company tried to push - then you may be disappointed; it is less supernatural and altogether more human..
Possession is one of the best films in actress Sarah Michelle Gellar's filmography...something which does not represent too much flattery.As I have mentioned in other occasions, I was a huge fan of the TV series Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, and I think that Gellar brought a brilliant performance in there.However, most of the films Gellar has been involved in are bad, and she was absolutely wasted in many of them.However, Possession kept me entertained, despite the facts that is not very memorable and that it feels a bit bland.The story from Possession is not very original; nevertheless, I liked the performances, the atmosphere and the methodic path the screenplay takes until leading to the "tense" ending, which is not very tense by itself, but which seems so thanks to the solid works from Gellar and Lee Pace.In conclusion, I think Possession deserves a moderate recommendation, mainly because of the performances, Joel Bergvall's and Simon Sanquist's efficient direction, and the screenplay, which does not offer too many new things, but at least is well structured.In other words, Possession is competent, but it lacks of something special to make it memorable..
Based on the trailer and the tags for the movie I expected a little bit of a horror/thriller from the movie, instead I got a slow moving tense love story.
Acting in it was good, nothing outstanding as it only was composed of three actors for the majority and of those two that showed any depth.Regardless of what I expected though, the movie was very slow in a lot of areas and then the theatrical version (and from what I read the alternate version is much better) provides an ending that was jumbled and developed poorly for the viewer.
They seemed to just toss out this ending without thought to turn it into a somewhat creepy idea of "possession" that I found to be quite bland.Overall if you watch a lot of movies and need something to watch, check it out, its not horrendous.
He's nice, so there's absolutely no real sense of danger or dramatic tension (my second fault with the film).If you're a Buffy/Sarah fan like me, you'll probably agree that she's the best bit.
It's not as bad as most remakes of South Asian movies but as a stand alone it's not very good either.
Jess's hope of her husband's recovery conflicted with her confusion in seeing her brother-in-law act familiar is well displayed.
I haven't seen the Original Asian movie this is based on, but I am pretty sure, that I would like that more than the Remake I have seen.
And this movie won't bring her career back.It's a nice little psycho thriller, that tries to stay ambiguous, but you might know where this is going, without me or anyone else telling you about it.
There's better thrillers out there, but you could pick a worse movie.
also if you like thriller movies in general (with a touch of supernatural thrown in for good measure).
Jess (Sarah Michelle Gellar) finds her perfect married life turned upside-down when both her husband Ryan (Michael Landes) and his bad-boy brother Roman (Lee Pace) are sent into comas following a head-on car collision.
Will Jess believe that her husband's spirit has somehow passed into the body of his brother, or will she call bulls**t?It doesn't surprise me at all to find that Possession is a remake of an Asian film: it stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, it moves like molasses, and the messy plot sure takes some swallowing.
Personally, I felt more than a tad cheated: I watched the film with the expectation of a spooky chiller, but what I got was a psychological thriller-cum-romance instead.
And a pretty poor one at that!Edit *** I've just watched Addicted, the Korean film on which this was based; it is also a very slow-moving film, but a much more worthwhile effort overall—classy and subtle, where Possession is just clumsy ***.
This movie was very uneven I think I would have to see the Japanese version or read the book in order to appreciate it better or at least understand what happened at the end of it.
I like Sarah Michelle Gellar but this was not one of her best work..
Sarah was very good in the movie.
I expected it to be better, but it wasn't and I only really watched it because Sarah Michelle Gellar was in it.
I expected this movie to be a lot better than it actually was and I think that's probably due to the fact that Sarah Michelle Gellar was in it and I love pretty much everything that she is in, but this movie was just terrible.
The only reason I've given the movie a 3 out of 10 is due to the fact that Sarah Michelle Gellar was in it and I think that's the only reason I actually even bothered to finish the movie..
The lawyer Jessica (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is married with her affectionate husband Ryan (Michael Landes) and they lodge Ryan's brother Roman (Lee Pace) in their home.
When Ryan and Roman have a weird car accident, they are hospitalized in coma with no expectation to survive.
Further, Roman recollects moments of confidence between Jess and her husband, raising doubts if he is possessed by the soul of Ryan in the emotionally feeble Jess.
The story of a man possessed by the spirit of his brother could be an excellent horror, thriller, drama or even story of repressed desire.
Unfortunately despite of the lovely Sarah Michelle Gellar, the plot is not well developed and has many flaws, like for example the fate of Casey or what would happen with Jessica after killing Roman.
When you see the title "Possession" and the poster, you would really think this was a supernatural thriller, as I did.
However, as you watch it, you would realize that this was actually a love story -- deep, conflicted and twisted.Sarah Michelle Gellar plays young lawyer Jess who is married to an ideally sweet husband Ryan (played by Michael Landes).
Ryan has an ex-con brother Roman (played by Lee Pace) who free-loads off the couple and creeps Jess out.
Jess is thus caught in an unusual dilemma between repulsion and hope, between hate and love.While the story is actually quite interesting on paper, the execution was also very uncomfortable to watch on screen since the love triangle involves brothers.
In particular, Lee Pace does a good job as bad Roman being like good Ryan.I have a problem with how the movie was resolved, which was quite hackneyed and predictable.
With further reading, I learned that this film was actually a remake of a Korean film "Addicted" and that the ending was totally different.
According to releases, the DVD also contains an "alternative" ending" that follows the spirit of the original Korean movie.
Despite the good looking production values, "Possession" is really another take on a romance novel spiced up with some supernatural and thriller elements which both come straight off the assembly line.
Ditsy beauty Sarah Michelle Gellar (playing Jessica) has the perfect marriage with Ryan (Michael Landes), but what she really wants is to have sex with bad boy Roman (Lee Pace).
And you guessed it: Ryan conveniently stays in a coma, but bad boy Roman emerges from the coma and claims to be Jessica's husband.
Now all Jessica had to really do was to point out the obvious to Roman: he does not look like Jessica's husband Ryan at all.
But if that happened, then Jessica would never have the opportunity to have sex with Roman and the rest of the film would have been unnecessary.
So Jessica convinces herself that Roman is possessed by the spirit of Ryan and has the best sex ever.
Jessica re-establishes herself unconvincingly as the good girl who would never dream of having sex with a bad boy by telling Roman that she only slept with him because she thought he was someone else.
Yeah sure!So if you are interested in romance novels with bad boys in them, you may like this film.
But if you want a film which is not straight off the assembly line and has multi-layered, intelligent, and evolving characters who do and say interesting things in exciting situations, then give "Possession" a pass..
First, the fact that Jess was even remotely fooled by Roman's pretending to have woken from his coma with a paranormal body-switch as his brother Ryan is preposterous.
Does anyone believe that Roman would really be able to fake the subtle nuances and chemistry that existed between Ryan and Jess?
In order to completely transform himself from a cold, hard, woman-beating criminal bad-ass to the totally sensitive woman-whipped romantic that Ryan was, he would have to be the greatest actor in the world.And to top it off, he's able to concoct and execute this plan immediately after waking up from his coma, realizing that his brother is still in one, all in the less than one hour time frame it took for the doctors to call Jess in to the hospital.
Considering that it turns out that Roman was just faking it, those scenes made absolutely no sense.I give it three out of ten just because some of the technical aspects of the movie, the lighting, overall coloring and feel, and soundtrack were at least professionally done.
Sarah Michelle Gellar was pretty good at least during the part when she was rejecting Roman and his ridiculous plot..
Canadian-lensed remake of what I assume was originally an Asian thriller, about a woman whose loving husband and brutish brother in law end up in comas after a car accident.
It's certainly suspenseful part of the way, but it is too easy to guess the ending based on various clues thrown at us during the story This is Gellar's film all the way, with able support from Lee Pace as the brother in law.
Dissatisfying film, better alternate ending....
However, I do agree with the reviewer above who says that the US DVD version's alternate ending works better.
I can't remember the time when I've seen a movie with such a markedly different alternate ending where where the alternate was so much better than the released film.
A lawyer, Jess(Sarah Michelle Gellar) faces a crisis of bizarre proportions when her beloved husband, Ryan(Michael Landes) suffers a serious car crash thanks to his barbaric ex-con brother, Roman(Lee Pace) who was speeding at excessive speeds passing motorists during a foggy morning whilst in the midst of a temper tantrum(as is established at the opening, this guy was quite an unfriendly, rude, hostile, ill-tempered fellow, whose mere presence repulsed her).
Something quite surreal might've taken place, a possible "soul transference" where Ryan has taken "possession" over his brother's body!
At first, Jess avoids Roman despite his knowledge of specific events only her and Ryan would know and had shared.
But, as she notices little quirks and behavioral patterns Ryan made now being exhibited by Roman, Jess ponders the real possibility that her husband has returned to her!
I think Sarah Michele Gellar really handles the part as well as can be expected.
I think Gellar fans will find her performance acceptable, even if they find the film a bit of an odd duck.
One development that really made me feel uncomfortable(..besides the eventual love making between Jess and Roman, while Ryan's body lie unconscious in a hospital)was the pregnancy, which is why I brought out the point regarding how awkward the movie was as an experience..
Em (Natasha Calis) the younger, more adorable, and better actor of his two daughters buys a box at a yard sale and the next thing you know the movie transforms itself into a mediocre Jewish exorcism film.The highlight for me was the MRI scene.
I would like to see Natasha Calis get smacked around er ah star in more horror films.
These 2 people are Oscar nominated directors for their short film Victor and made one of my favourite movies with Den Osynlige.
I haven't seen Victor (yet) but this is the only other film of theirs that I know I can see.The plot of this movie is that Ryan and Roman are brothers.
Ryan seems to have everything a wife named Jess (Sarah Michelle Gellar) who loves him dearly and aside from kids their lives could not be more perfect.
Once Roman wakes up he has delusions that he is Ryan and has his memories.
or did their bodies really get swapped somehow?The biggest problem with this movie is that Jess seems to believe that Roman is Ryan pretty quickly.
To her, her husband being in her brother-in-law's body (or so she thinks) doesn't even seem like a big problem once they form a relationship.
It is actually pretty awkward to watch when you look at some of those scenes.The concept for this movie is actually pretty good.
I know it is a remake of a South Korean film called "Addicted" and from what I have heard it does explore the topic a little better so i am going to watch that.
I wanted to see Tuva Novotny in other things and she doesn't really show her acting ability (if you really want to see her play someone troubled - look at Den Osynlige, it might be hard to find but it's worth it) but you can't have everything, Sarah Michalle Gellar does a good job even if the writing is very sketchy in terms of pacing and Lee Pace does do a good job at basically being a scumbag one minute and the next being a man trying to convince his brother's wife that he is her husband.So is this worth a look?
I mean yes, there are problems like why she didn't suspect the twist to happen (it actually wasn't that hard to work out) and that she believes Roman is Ryan almost with the drop of a hat but this movie does get you questioning a bit and the concept is actually pretty good.
If this movie had a better ending and a different title, I would have given it 9 stars.
We were left hanging.It was "almost" a great movie, but the directors missed the mark with the ending and the title.
The title was completely wrong for this movie.
Possession is a name for a horror movie.
The photo on the DVD cover looks like it belongs with a completely different movie and bore no semblance to this film.
To make the problem worse, there are already a half dozen other movies with the same name "Possession." This movie should have been called something like "Reflection," "Inner Spirit," "Echo," "Transference," "Rebirth" or "(a rose) by any other name"...
It was hard enough just finding the right entry on IMDb.The directors' filming styles did not fit the movie.
They used choppy flashes of horrific images and sudden loud banging noises to instill fear in the audience like you would with a horror movie or thriller.
That might be OK with a movie like "The Ring" or "Darkness" but it was out of place on this film...
This movie had 2 terrible directors who took an excellent story, good screenplay and superbly talented actors and treated it like 2 high school kids pretending to be directors in their garage.
If not for the directors, this could have been a fantastic 9 star movie.It really was a good movie throughout until the last scene when we were left dangling with no ending.
For this kind of a movie, a happy ending would have been nice...
Apparently, these directors have a problem with "closures" and endings in his movies.
They turned a winning movie into a dud.I had been hoping for some redeeming alternate scenes after the directors left us hanging without any ending...
They are apparently clueless as to how to appropriately end this kind of movie.A love story like this should have had an ending with a glimmer of positive hope...
If they had wanted to end the movie properly, Ryan would have stayed awake after that last episode.
That's how you end a movie like this.
It is a good movie and good story, as long as you understand the disappointment waiting for you with the "lack of ending" and you understand this movie is nothing like the title implies. |
tt0064449 | How to Commit Marriage | Nancy, the 19-year-old daughter of Frank and Elaine Benson (Bob Hope and Jane Wyman), wants to marry David (Tim Matheson), the 20-year-old son of Oliver Poe (Jackie Gleason). What the bride doesn't know is that her parents are about to get a divorce.
Poe, a music promoter, has a hunch something is amiss. He doesn't want the kids to get married, so before the wedding he exposes the Bensons' secret. Nancy and David decide marriage isn't necessary. They will live together instead, travel around the country with a rock band and heed the advice and wisdom of a Hindu mystic called the Baba Zeba (Professor Irwin Corey).
Frank and Elaine are seeing other people. He is involved with a divorcee, Lois Grey (Maureen Arthur), while she is developing an interest in Phil Fletcher (Leslie Nielsen), who also is recently divorced. Poe, meanwhile, continues to see his mistress, LaVerne Baker (Tina Louise).
Then one day, Nancy finds out she is pregnant. The Baba Zeba persuades her to put up the baby for adoption. Frank and Elaine conspire behind their daughter's back to adopt their own grandchild.
Complications arise, resulting in Frank trying to bribe the guru and even disguising himself as one of the Baba Zeba's robed followers. By the end, all ends well for everybody; the Bensons get back together and Poe proposes to LaVerne. | romantic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0044466 | California Conquest | Don Arturo Bordega (Cornel Wilde) is part of the old Spanish nobility, and a vocal advocate for California'a annexation by the United States. On his way to a secret meeting in support of that goal, he is attacked by bandits led by José Martínez (Alfonso Bedoya), but narrowly escapes. The planned "guest of honor" at the secret meeting to which Bordega is en route, is none other than then-U.S. Army Captain John Charles Fremont. Martinez's thugs attempt to assassinate Fremont while he is traveling to the same meeting, but succeed only in lightly wounding him. It is subsequently revealed that the corrupt Brios brothers, Ernesto (Eugene Iglesias) and Fredo (John Dehner) have paid Martinez to violently oppose the movement advocating American annexation of California, as part of their unscrupulous plot to deliver California to the imperial domain of the Russian Czar (in exchange for a promise to appoint first Ernesto, and later Fredo, as the Russian colonial governor).
Martinez's men violently seize a quantity of rifles from gunsmith Sam Lawrence (Hank Patterson), in order to arm a force in support of the Russian conquest of California. This invokes the wrath of his beautiful daughter, Julia (Teresa Wright), who winds up joining Arturo Bordega in his mission to infiltrate Martinez's bandit group, in order to foil their part in the nefarious scheme. Martinez is eventually killed by Julia Lawrence (and Ernesto Brios is slain by Bordega in a duel), during a period in which they learn the nature of the Brios' plot. Arturo Bordega and Julia Lawrence eventually travel to Fort Ross, where they are able to capture Fredo Brios (as well as a fictional Russian princess, Helena de Gagarine, and a high-ranking Russian army officer), and otherwise manage to thwart the treasonous conspiracy. During the course of their travels together, Bordega and Lawrence fall in love, and the film concludes with their stated intent to marry, and "have 14 children." | violence, action, historical fiction | train | wikipedia | "Historical" Piece - rule over California. California Conquest tells the story of the battle for rule of what will eventually become a state, when gold is found here later. Teresa Wright does a good job as the daughter of a settler who is determined to get her married off to famed explorer John Fremont. As someone else has pointed out, what a mishmash of crappy accents that come and go, and about half the actors just mumble for some reason to the point of distraction. Cornel Wilde is Arturo Bodega (Bordega ?), fighting off the interloping Russians, but he sounds like a European. We get the usual amount of swordfights, gunfights, and oat burning horse chases. Some great outdoor photography, presumably California. Several of the scenes are very dark, and its hard to see what is occurring; not sure if its just bad lighting, or film degradation. There is the usual climactic battle of good versus evil at the very end. Entertaining, but Teresa Wright is the only shining star in this one.Directed by Lew Landers, who had a long history in Hollywood; acc to wikipedia, he acted in two shorts around 1914, when he would have been about 12. He disappears for 15 years (war? working?) Then he pops up as crew on one film, and disappears again for about five years. Then starts a long career as director in 1934, and had been directing for almost 20 years when this film was made.. Defeating the Dialogue Directors. Cornel Wilde does a Mexican accent. He does a really bad Mexican accent with an often wooden delivery. For me that trumps every other aspect of this movie, which is supposed to be about California in the 1840s and jockeying between Mexico, the U.S. England and Russia to control it, but seems to be about Wilde getting into sword fights, breaking into peoples' hotel rooms to rob them and wooing Teresa Wright.It even makes Teresa Wright seem like a bad actress. She had been nominated for two Oscars a decade earlier and had won one, and was a wonderful actress, but her delivery, which was just right when speaking with Gary Cooper or Joseph Cotten, well, here it makes her seem as if she thinks that Cornel Wilde is slightly deaf or stupid.There are other aspects of this movie one might consider, I suppose, but I find it impossible to concentrate on them enough to offer them for your consideration. Let's simply note that this movie was decent enough to keep me watching to the end and that's why it's not an absolute bomb. But it's not worth your time to look at it.. "The Czar has no territorial ambitions". California Conquest was a film of its times at the height of the Cold War and the McCarthy period when some in Hollywood felt it was their duty to show the Russians for the grasping imperialists they were even before Karl Marx drew breath. Cornel Wilde plays a California Don already looking forward to statehood with USA and Teresa Wright is the daughter of an American settler in California who has a dry goods business.I'm of the opinion that a lot of Hollywood players to make themselves blacklist proof did films like California Conquest. Wilde himself was a person of no political leanings that I've discovered took a film like this so that no one would question his patriotism in those times. As history records the last Russian settlement in California closed up shop in 1841 that being Fort Ross which was mentioned here. It is here though that Ivan Lebedeff and Lisa Ferraday are the Czar's agents weaving a plot to bring all of California into the Russian fold. As their agents they have Alfonso Bedoya bandit leader in the Gold Hat tradition and the ambitious John Dehner who is setting himself as a Quisling.No mention here of the Mexican War to come or of that phrase that had a lot of currency back in those days about American 'Manifest Destiny' to spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific and if you don't agree too bad.Don't get me wrong there were some good anti-Communist films of the time. California Conquest just isn't one of them. |
tt0103926 | Careful | Careful is set in Tolzbad, a fictional mountain town under constant threat of devastating avalanches that can be triggered by any loud noise or even a too-large expression of emotion. The people of Tolzbad suppress their emotions as much as possible, living in constant vigilance against losing self-control. An opening lecture cautions common advice ("Think twice!", "Don't stand so close to the walnut tree!").
The greatest ambition of the citizens of Tolzbad is to become good servants for the reclusive Count Knotkers. Johann and Grigorss are brothers and butlers-in-training. Both are beloved of their mother Zenaida, although she hates their brother Franz, whom they do not speak of and who has been exiled to the attic. The ghost of their dead blind father appears to Franz to warn him of impending doom in the family, yet Franz (paralyzed and mute and covered in cobwebs) can do nothing. The ghost complains to Franz that Zenaida never loved him and harboured love for Count Knotkers instead, although forbidden to marry him by the Count's mother.
Johann is betrothed to Klara, daughter of Herr Trotta, and although Grigorss harbours secret love for Klara he says nothing. Johann, meanwhile, becomes incestuously attracted to his own mother Zenaida. He spies on her through the walls of the chimney as she undresses and bathes. He then concocts a love potion for her, and as she drifts into sleep he assaults her, kissing and groping her breasts. Horrified at himself, Johann burns off his lips with a hot coal, cuts off his fingers with garden shears, and throws himself off a mountain.
Grigorss becomes infuriated when Zenaida reveals that her passion for Count Knotkers has been rekindled since his mother died, so that no obstacles stand in the way of their union. She reveals that the reason she hates Franz but loves her other sons is because Franz reminds her too much of her hated dead husband, but when she conceived Grigorss and Johann she was thinking about the Count. Grigorss challenges the Count to a duel to avenge his father's honour, but Zenaida talks him out of it by finally accepting Franz into the family.
However, Klara convinces Grigorss to go through with the duel. Possessed like Johann with incestuous love for her parent (her father, Herr Trotta, who ignores Klara but lavishes attention on her sister Sigleinde), and inspired after viewing the enchained wild mountain girl Gerda, this duel is the first step of her plan for revenge. They duel with daggers, and Grigorss stabs Count Knotkers. He heads home, where Zenaida cares for him after he collapses from exhaustion. However, when she discovers he has killed her beloved Count, she throws him out of the house and hangs herself in the attic in front of Franz.
Grigorss is taken by Klara to a mountain cave she once hopefully prepared as a love den for her and her father but which she now claims can be their new home. On the gondola ride there, Klara tells Grigorss that her father raped her and they must plan his death. Grigorss takes Herr Trotta on a sleigh ride, during which he shoots a pistol to start an avalanche to bury Trotta. All goes according to plan, except that Klara throws herself into the sleigh to die while kissing her father.
Alone, Grigorss retreats to the mountain cave. A single teardrop causes another avalanche, which traps him inside, where he freezes to death while hallucinating a happy reunion with his parents. As the film ends, Franz and Sigleinde join together to search the mountains for their lost family members, not realizing they are dead. | comedy, avant garde, bleak, cult, absurd, psychedelic, melodrama | train | wikipedia | Guy Maddin's brilliant and hilarious (particularly for early film buffs) `Careful.' The plot and style of this film have been well explained by other commentaries on this page and elsewhere, so there's no need to go over it again.
In a spoken commentary track with Maddin and screenwriter George Toles (new to this DVD, and obviously not possible on the VHS edition), Maddin admits that he wanted to add an effect through use of the color controls during the digital transfer, but resisted that temptation in order to let this DVD stand as a faithful representation of the film.
While the effect he had in mind might have been interesting, I'm still grateful to him for his restraint.Maddin claims in his commentary that people often obliquely criticize the performances of the actors in this film while, at the same time, telling him how much they like it, placing him in the position of defending those performances.
Maddin states that he absolutely stands by the performances in this film, and that the actors gave him precisely what he asked for.
This should dispel any doubts among people who see this film about the unusual, stiff delivery of lines, which might lead people who know nothing about the cast to suspect they are amateurs, which they are definitely not.
The antiquated sound of this film, along with its look, is all of a piece, and completely intentional, right down to the fake patina of noise added to the mono soundtrack.
If you like this film, do get this DVD now, and tell anyone you know who likes unusual films about it.Near the end of the film, which hints at a continuation of the story, Maddin says that he may make that sequel some day.
It's a little like reading a hysterical comic book, and finding original paintings by old masters salted throughout!This brilliant Canadian film heavily borrows from the high-camp expressionism of German silent films and early talkies, especially the "mountain" films of Leni Riefenstahl.
Anyone who's read FROM CALIGARI TO HITLER will recognize dozens of scenes in this film as near carbons of stills from the book.
Perhaps more than any other films before or since, German silent cinema created compelling images that tap into universal race consciousness, portraying grainy, moving archetypal images all of us vaguely recognize from dreams or nightmares.
But there are plenty of laughs in between, (with "sick," 70's style National Lampoon-like humor).
If you've never laughed at seeing an eye poked out, leave political correctness at the door and give this film a whirl!The soundtrack if often deliberately scratchy or muffled, and in several scenes easter-egg like colors are used that resemble the early two-strip technicolor process.
This bizarre film is salted with unexpected dialogue like this: BOY: "My, aren't you the frisky one today." GIRL: "Even the reindeer are such, when Spring is coming!"Enough of the aesthetics, what is the film supposedly about?
Jackie Burroughs does a brilliant bit part as the puritanical teacher, who closely resembles the Cloris Leachman role in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN.All of the characters display a surface naivete; actresses speak in the perky, breathless voices reminiscent of badly dubbed post-war European B films; "strapping" young sons still wear short pants'd school uniforms.
The film quickly descends below the surface to show the village as a cauldron of incestuous flirtations, violent retaliation and explosive "family secrets." The plot follows an arc of forbidden loves and passions, leading to retribution on a biblical scale.
What may appear to the modern audience as "cheap" special effects are actually loving recreations of how ghosts and visions were portrayed in silent and early talking German films.
Uncoated lenses and back lit hair make some closeups resemble images from early Garbo or Dietrich films.CAREFUL warrants multiple viewings.
Watch it with a friend; this is definitely a film you'll want to dissect over several capuccinos..
Careful you don't miss a great film!.
His films have a look all of their own; blending surrealism with German style expressionism.
The grainy slightly faded style of his films, make them appear from another era.
"Careful" is filmed in a bright Technicolor style that's visually dazzling.
This is one strange film, with picturesque landscapes that look like they jumped out of a Salvador Dali painting.
If you are looking for a disturbing candy colored dark comedy, careful you don't pass this opportunity up..
Be Careful of So Many Things - But Watch This Movie.
I love Guy Maddin's work and this is my favourite of his films.
It's odd and unsettling and it sticks with you long after you've watched it.It's definitely not the most accessible of his works, but I like it.
It's been described as a "pro-repressionist" movie, but I don't think that's entirely accurate.The people portrayed in the village are deeply repressed and one small push makes their whole stack of cards morals come tumbling down.
I recently watched the film, Careful, by Guy Maddin on television and found it to be very interesting indeed.
The person introducing the film called Maddin a Canadian David Lynch and while both directors do have a certain flair for the unusual, I believe Lynch to be a surrealist while Maddin's style to be something else entirely.
Granted, Careful is the only film of Maddin's I have seen except for excerpts and press for The Saddest Music in the World, but his style, at least in this film, is one of sentimentality and homage.
I have seen plenty of German Expressionist films and Careful would seem to fit right into that mold.
I myself have often toyed with the idea of producing a film in the Expressionist style if only for the exercise of it.
Maddin has produced an Expressionist film in the year 1992 which flawlessly mimics the films of Ufa, Wiene, Murnau, and Lang from the early 20th century.
Any viewer, even those versed in early Expressionism, who would happen across this film without any context would be forgiven for mistaking it to be an actual 80-year-old film, so true is Maddin's style, so exacting is his pacing.
Full frame color tinting, sound stage shooting, post-produced soundtrack, rigid acting style, and obsolete directorial choices, combine to provide the viewer with a disturbing portrait of repression, duty, and mountain goats.
This is the second Guy Maddin film that I've seen (the other being "Twilight of the Ice Nymphs") and in both cases, the films wore out their welcome about half an hour in.I enjoy the offbeat style of the humor, the intentional visual stylization patterned after early silent films (this one reminded me particularly of the work of Melies), and I have no problem with the flat acting style (which is an honest homage to early film acting) or the coloring (which, again, is based in films of yesteryear).
Where Maddin's films run into trouble is, as soon as the novelty has worn off and the character based introductory jokes have played out, there is simply nothing beneath it all for the film to fall back on.The story is actually very simple, yet it is so relentlessly bizarre that it borders on surrealism.
(Not that one can't come up with various things after the fact; I simply doubt that the director intended them or had any control over them if I can only interpret the vaguest elements of the story.)The concept of Oedipal lust and such simply aren't enough to sustain a film of this length.
It then withers quickly, as the last real belly laugh comes in the first few minutes of "Part Two." The remaining hour or so limps along to a decent though unsatisfying end.Guy Maddin is without doubt a clever and unique director, and I look forward to the day when I can say that I've seen him at his best.
But he's far from it in this film in my opinion.Endless homages to early films aren't enough to last 100 minutes...
If you are a fan of German Expressionism, then you will enjoy this modern homage to a beautiful and arresting style perceived and captured wonderfully by Guy Maddin.
There is a ton of symbolism and exploration of the sexual taboos found in both the Oedipus and Cassandra complexes of Greek mythology while allowing for quite humorous character developments which certainly make the film that much more enjoyable than just an "art" film.
Maddin's use of light and especially color adds to the classic expressionist model which gets a gorgeous injection of modern fare.
While I can enjoy the notion of one reviewer calling this a cross between "The Wizard of Oz and Eraserhead", I definately saw this as a much more direct colorful homage to "Caligari" than anything Lynch-esque.
This is the fourth Guy Maddin film I've seen--the others are The Dead Father, Tales From the Gimli Hospital, and Twilight of the Ice Nymphs--and I have yet to be impressed.
Maddin's obsessive need to reproduce the conventions of old film styles isn't the problem, it's his utter inability to tell a compelling story.
And while Careful looks quite good--though the tinting is at times oversaturated--his insistence on having his cast read the script in an arch deadpan style is simply annoying and frankly an insult to the films to which he is supposedly paying tribute.
Maddin is the arthouse equivalent of Quentin Tarantino--reasonably well versed in film history, in awe of his cinema predecessors, and woefully unable to turn his love and knowledge into anything more than a game of spot the influence..
I saw the film Careful and I loved the cinematography of this film.
So many different techniques of photography and color correction were used in the film.
I feel that a lot of films stick with the three act structure but this was something different.
I praise the filmmaker for being brave and daring to make a film like this.
German Expressionism, Guy Maddin style.
Influenced by the German Expressionist films of the 1920s and filtered through the oddball sensibilities of writer/director Guy Maddin, Careful is a film like no other.
Maddin appropriates silent cinema's monochrome aesthetic in multiple scenes but even when color is being used in a more traditional way he tends to fill the screen with garish brightness.
The film has (melo)dramatic elements but is primarily comedic, albeit with a wink and a nudge subtlety almost altogether absent from silent film's heyday.The bizarre plot of the film is centered on a repressed mountain community, particularly the brothers Johan and Grigors and their mother.
The boys' father, who lost both his eyes in separate freak accidents, is long since dead and their older brother is locked in the attic where he silently watches.
Naturally, characters become involved in murder plots, duels, and suicide as they're too repressed and shut off to resolve their problems in a less dramatic fashion.Thematically, Careful is too jumbled to have much coherence but like most Maddin films this is more about style than plot or meaning.
Maddin's creative visual style is engaging enough on its own to make Careful a worthwhile film..
Bizarre but affectionate homage to the German Expressionist style.
Hilariously demented: Take camera work and set design inspired by "The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari" and the early talkie "Svengali", scenario and dialogue that might have been written by Ibsen (under the influence of peyote), then put a creature from Alpha Centauri doing his first English-language film in the director's chair and you get some idea of what this movie is like.If there's not something wrong with you, you won't like this movie at all, but there's much here that twisted sensibilities will find appealing.
Guy Maddin does German expressionism...or at least he tries..
On the one hand you have an original movie, that taking an unique vintage approach but on the other hand it's something that just doesn't always work out too well.First of all, I can really appreciated Guy Maddin and his style of unique film-making, that is often a throwback to the classic early movie's era.
With this movie Guy Maddin went back to the early days of German expressionism, which in the past had provided us with many great classic and very memorable and beautiful looking movies, mostly during the early 1920's.
Why not use consistently an one color filtering throughout the entire movie?
They applied some filters during and after filming but what it mostly does is making the colors look a bit dim.
Besides, if this was supposed to be like a German expressionistic movie, then where are all the great looking sets and backgrounds that made expressionistic movies what they were.
Instead this movie is looking like a modern but also cheap movie, that does absolutely nothing with its environments or sets.One thing that also doesn't seem very consistent with its style and approach is the fact that this is a talkie.
The movie would had probably worked out better if it was more being like a silent movie, using title cards and perhaps a narrator, like Maddin for instance did previously with "Tales from the Gimli Hospital", a movie that did a far better job with its silent movie elements and more modern film-making elements and approach.The story would had probably worked out far better as well that way.
Silent movies can simply get away with a lot more.
Yes, it obviously is already a bit of a weird movie in the first place but all of its dialog and story lines make the movie even more odd to watch.
It's just not very compelling and the characters are far too (intentionaly) flat to care about.
It really doesn't make the movie a very consistent one.So all in all, I can appreciate Guy Maddin's approach and the weirdness he brings to this movie but it ultimately doesn't always works out too well for this particular movie, which makes it a bit of a mixed bad to watch.
Best described as a combination of "The Wizard of Oz" and "Eraserhead," "Careful" is a wacked-out tale of repression and unnatural desires, set in an alpine village where no one can speak too loudly for fear of starting an avalanche.
Hilarious and sinister, "Careful" is also one of the most visually arresting films I've ever seen, with impossibly rosy-cheeked characters inhabiting a hallucinatory dream world of intentionally fake sets and intense easter-egg pastels.
Watching it you will feel like you've stepped into the middle of a Ricola ad gone horribly, horribly wrong..
I really like Maddin.
I like the way he thinks visually first.
They experience the world, the same way we experience the film: by what some call a surrealistic dream world.
He makes a trade-off by investing in what is often - including here - called "German Expressionism." Actually, the model is German mountain films, a quite different beast: one that is more genuinely pre-noir.The world behind those films has a people in tune with a nature that limits their lives, often controlling.
It is pre-noir tragedy with noir-like conventions, cast using those German pre- noir images.It is a stretch to merge German notions of superior harmony with the mountain homeland with the Nazi comfort with the cruelty of nature.
But heck, others do; there is the tradition of Riefenstahl's mountain films and then her similarly inspired Nazi propaganda; and after all, films like this encourage such stretches.
Herzog continues this even today.But all that is predicable and easy to read, compared to Maddin's deeper stuff.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching..
Don't get me wrong, I like to watch arty films and can find all the Freudian symbolism, but the asthetic was just plain awful (no matter how remeniscient of "German exprssionistic mountain films" {wot does that actually mean anyway???} it is) and the acting is purely crumby.
As a lover of B-Movies, I wouldn't even rank this as a "so bad it's good" film.
(PS: The documentary accompanying on the DVD shed some light on the small, closeted life of Mr Maddin and helped to explain the films fixation with homoerotica and insest, but didn't really make me want to rush out and find all of this directors work in a hurry!!).
Rape, murder, suicide, incest, and the constant overbearing threat of a great avalanche triggered by as little as the volume of one's voice...it's all just another day at the office inside the imaginative mind of Guy Maddin."Careful" is a coldly comic drama that bathes merrily in its own strangeness.
The story is all over the place, even if it is pretty straightforward and coherent for a Guy Maddin production.
Plot twists, love affairs, suicides, deaths, secrets, sexual desires, and more cause the story's simple foundations to spiral into a madman's epic of absurd and surreal measures.
Painted with the tears of tragedy and the spit of black comedy, "Careful" is not a love story, but a collection of love stories that aren't really love stories...it's hard to describe, like any great Guy Maddin film is.
This is an essential work for any fan of film in general, as long as this "hypothetical fan" I am referring to is willing to broaden his or her horizons and delve into a more disturbing, weird, and experimental piece of filmmaking that is not afraid to make the viewer directly uncomfortable, sickened, humored, and depressed in a matter of minutes..
I saw this at the Sundance Film Festival in 1993 and have been telling all my friends to see this unique film ever since.
I'm happy to hear that it is on DVD (my probing into every video store was fruitless)and I can't wait to purchase my very own copy of this brilliant film..
The use of sound, the characters, and the pacing combine to give this film a uniquely mesmerizing feel.
This said, far from being esoteric or overly symbolic, I found this film extremely accessible and easy to watch, and was quickly drawn into the dark and offbeat storyline..
Look past the style.
Bizarre and highly imaginative film with a distinctive style. |
tt0035799 | Destination Tokyo | On Christmas Eve, the submarine USS Copperfin, under the command of Captain Cassidy (Cary Grant), departs San Francisco on a secret mission. At sea, Cassidy opens his sealed orders, which direct him to proceed first to the Aleutian Islands to pick up meteorologist Raymond (John Ridgely), then to Tokyo Bay to obtain vital weather intelligence for the upcoming Doolittle Raid.
Two Japanese planes attack; both are shot down, but one pilot manages to parachute into the water. When Mike (Tom Tully) goes to pick him up, he is stabbed to death. New recruit Tommy Adams (Robert Hutton) shoots the pilot, but because he was slow to react, Tommy blames himself for Mike's death and volunteers to defuse an unexploded bomb stuck under the deck. When Mike is buried at sea, Greek-American Tin Can (Dane Clark) does not attend the service, which angers the other men until he explains that every Allied death causes him great pain. Meanwhile, Raymond, who lived in Japan, discusses how the Japanese people were led into the war by the military faction.
As the submarine nears Tokyo Bay, the Copperfin has to somehow negotiate its way through protective minefields. When a Japanese ship enters the bay, Cassidy follows in its wake. That night, a small party goes ashore to make weather observations. Meanwhile, Tommy is diagnosed with appendicitis. Pills, the pharmacist, has to operate following instructions from a book, using improvised instruments. (There were actually a few emergency appendectomies performed in the course of wartime submarine patrols.)
Raymond broadcasts the information in Japanese in an attempt to avoid detection, but the Japanese are alerted and search the bay. Fortunately, the Copperfin remains undetected, allowing the men to watch part of the raid through the periscope. After recovering Raymond and his team, the submarine then slips out following an exiting ship. (In reality, no American submarines ever got into the inner part of Tokyo Bay.)
Later, the Copperfin sinks an aircraft carrier and is badly damaged by its escorts. In desperation, Cassidy attacks, sending a destroyer to the bottom and enabling the crew to return safely to San Francisco. | flashback | train | wikipedia | This movie is a great example of a thriller, not looking to be a non-fiction account of a WWII sub, just a great story with a group of true professionals.
Cary Grant was so compelling in this role that Tony Curtis said he based his famous part in Some Like It Hot on Cary Grant's performance in this picture, and that Curtis always wanted to do a movie with Grant on a submarine from that moment forward---and of course got his wish with Operation Petticoat.
The same Japanese military also starved its own people in places like Okinawa to feed itself, and I would hope that all people would now be familiar with the 'rape of Nanking,' so what was called propaganda was more just the way of the world at the time.
Here is a great small war movie propelled with the talents of star Cary Grant and a fine supporting cast to boot.
I saw a in previous review, where a reader said that the movie stared Alan Hale, before he went on to Captain his own boat in Gilligan's Island.
Cary Grant does a good job as Captain, and I enjoyed the drama of Torpedoman Adams getting hit with an appendicitis while the sub is in Tokyo Bay. It also showed that people die during a war.
With all the stir over Bruckheimer and Bay's silly PEARL HARBOR action ride, you might want to see some more realistic and gritty war films.
This film will keep you on the edge of your seat when the sub comes under fire from the Japanese Destroyer's while one of the crew is having surgery by a man who knows nothing about appendicitis.
Made during the second world war this film obviously shows its propaganda heritage.
It does contain all the 'token' characters of a NAVY film including the hothead, rookie, bragger, comedy cook but I believe thats probably because it was the first film with these elements.The underwater scenes are a little 'Thunderbirds' but they do convey the tension properly and Grant flows with Captain 'esk speeches including the 'Roller Skates' one which is a little bizarre.Over all a top notch underwater fiesta..
Since the Doolittle raid was in April of 1942, the movie has to begin on Christmas day 1941 - a little less that three weeks after the US got into the war.
It's not a great film for our times mostly because it's overflowing with lessons, with the propagandistic style of persuading us the Japanese were bad and the U.S. soldiers, with all their wonderful flaws, were out to save us.I say this first because it's a lot of baggage to wade through.
The other side to this coin is an adventure war movie where Cary Grant is in charge of a submarine out for a special mission.
The one older actor is the cook played by character actor Alan Hale, who is appropriately comic.So, what you get is some very talented people explaining the current events, including lots of anti-Japanese chat.
For those who hate America and think the Second World War was "useless", this will be a corny movie and propaganda.
The entire cast is exceptional, and the film even manages to avoid much of the ugly racism that often mars many other war-themed movies form this era.
A somewhat unusual film for lead actor Cary Grant, cast very much against type, and the commanding actor pulls it off with great aplomb..
Gripping WW2 film with Cary Grant as the captain of a Navy submarine tasked with a scouting mission ahead of the Dollittle Raid in April of 1942.
The crew of the sub includes John Garfield, Alan Hale, Dane Clark, Tom Tully, and William Prince.
Second movie of both John Forsythe and Robert Hutton, cousin to Cary Grant's then-wife Barbara Hutton.A classic war movie, well directed by Delmer Daves with a smart script that focuses heavily on character more than action.
Cary Grant is always entertaining, and you might notice Alan Hale as the cook, before he went on to skipper his own boat in "Gilligan's Island." If you like submarine films or World War II films this one is worth seeing..
I mean when you are laughing and recalling the days of playing with toys like this in your bathtub as a kid, it's hard to take the movie seriously.I don't mean to sound this harsh but after viewing "Master and Commander: Far Side Of The World" and "Das Boat" and a several other films involving ships and submarines, It's tough to go back and watch something that looks this unrealistic, despite a good cast and decent script.I will defend this film - and others of the period, however, for its patriotism.
It's what passes for bravery in these movies.Now in the case of "Destination Tokyo" can we really talk about realism when the submarine is usually an obvious model, when the captain sends the sub down to 150 feet and we can see the sunlight reflecting off the surface of the water a couple of feet over the model?Enjoy the movie for what it is, but let's get rid of the pretence that these are realistic to any significant degree.
I'd put it a notch below "Run Silent, Run Deep" a 1957 sub sage starring Gable and Lancaster and I would say the biggest reason is that Robert Wise brought RSRD in at 93 minutes, with virtually no wasted scenes while Delmer Davies brings DT in at a bit bloated 2:15 that could have easily had at least .20 minutes edited from without ruining the story.Cary Grant, in a solid dramatic performance plays a veteran sub commander who receives an assignment to take his sub into Tokyo Bay shortly after the 12/7/41 attack to do surveillance and collect information for the Doolittle Raiders, whose attack on Tokyo was successfully carried out the following April.
Except it does allow the script writers to put in an exciting air attack from Jap fighter planes that leads to the death of a crewman, a funeral at sea and several speeches by crew about why we are fighting this war.There are a couple of flashback scenes that are really needless, but DT pays off with some top notch drama that captures the tension and camaraderie of a sub crew, plus some terrific action when Grant and his crew have to fight their way out of Tokyo Bay and sustain a lengthy depth charge attack.
Some good performances by familiar faces playing crew members, among them John Garfield as a perpetually horny sailor, Dane Clark, Robert Hutton and WB veteran Alan Hale, as always playing everyone's best pal
whether he was on the prairie, in Sherwood Forest or on the seas..
***SPOILERS*** On Christmas Eve 1941 some two weeks after the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor the US attack submarine Copperfin slips out of San Francisco Bay on a secret mission that even it's office in charge Capt.Cassidy, Cary Grant, has no idea what it is.
Cassidy opens up, as he was ordered to before he took off,the safe in his cabin where there's a letter of instructions to where he and the crew of the Coppenfin are headed for; Destinaion Tokyo.Highly charged war action/drama with Capt.
Cassidy, who despite being a native of Oklahoma City sounds as if he's from Birmingham England, and his all American crew consisting of the womanizing, mostly in his mind, and wise cracking Wolfie, John Garfield, who found out after his tour at sea that the sub Copperfin was the best girl that he ever had a date with.
There's Tin Can, Dane Clark, a sarcastic and disillusioned young sailor who doesn't believe in a heaven life after death or a higher power but becomes religious after his experience, or spiritual awakening, in surviving the hell on earth that was Tokyo Bay. Together with the rest of the sub's crew that includes "Cookie" (Alan Hale) the sub's cook, I guess that why he's called "COOKie", and young Tommy Adams, Robert Hutton, out on his first tour of sea duty and the on boat "doctor" Pill, William Prince, who doubles as the ships pharmacist, or is it the other way around.
This is to be done so that the Japs wouldn't get suspicious, for the planned moral boosting Jimmy Dolittle raid on Tokyo.Very tense and exciting war movie with the Copperfin under strict orders to avoid any action, and maintain strict radio silence with the US fleet, in order not to expose the mission that she's on.
Cassidy's and the sub's crew expert handling slips past the Japanese Navy, as well as an impregnable submarine net, by shadowing, underwater a Japanese heavy cruiser and it's destroyer escort into the heavily defended Tokyo Harbor.In conjunction with the US bomber attack on the city the Copperfin again shadowing a number of Japanese war ships quietly sails out of Tokyo Bay as the action there get hot and heavy.
The Copperfin then runs into a large Jap naval task force slated to engage the US carrier group defending the USS aircraft carrier Hornet who's responsible for all the havoc caused in the Pearl of the Rising Sun, Tokyo.Nerve-racking Japanese attack, with an almost inexhaustible supply of deadly depth charges, on the Copperfin after it deep-sixth a Jap flat-top (aircraft carries) thus exposing it's presence,and position.
Sub movies up to recent times are one way or another seeking to borrow the formula Delmer Davies conceived for this timeless war picture.
John Garfield nails it as the more-talk-than-action with the dames "Wolf." Dane Clark hits a homer as a transfer from the surface navy to the special world of the submariner.
A young Tony Curtis saw this movie and enlisted in the Navy during the war in hopes of becoming a submariner too (he didn't but years later he played one in Operation Petticoat along with his idol Cary Grant).
The submarine sent on this deadly mission was captained by Cary Grant who should have done something better for the war effort.
Every submarine film eventually comes back with the same clichés and Destination Tokyo is no different.
And topping it all off, young Robert Hutton comes down with appendicitis and ship's pharmacist's mate William Prince operates on him with the Japanese fleet on top.The only thing I wonder is did the Japanese make a war propaganda film for their side about how a daring submarine sailed into Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and choreograph that whole attack?.
Grant played a tough minded yet basically tender hearted skipper whose objective was to drive his submarine right into Tokyo Harbor.
The entire film was a plain effort at glorifying a useless war to the homefront, complete with a stirring speech by Grant on the honor of giving one's life so kids can wear roller skates instead of guns.
All the clichés of the period are present, from the boastful Romeo (John Garfield) to the lovable wise-cracking cook (Alan Hale Sr.) to the no nonsense captain (Cary Grant) to the fresh-faced kid (Robert Hutton, a disturbingly real presence in an otherwise super-slick cast), replete with the usual rites of passage, etc..
Above average World War II drama featuring Cary Grant and John Garfield.
Heretofore screenwriter Delmer Daves directed his first film, and assisted Albert Maltz with the screenplay of this Steve Fisher story about a submarine crew charged with infiltrating Tokyo bay in order to provide valuable information to the first Allied bombing mission of that city.There's an interesting reference to this real mission in a movie about that James Doolittle-led bombing mission, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944), which was made by a different studio (MGM).
Unusual casting and the human aspects of its personnel mark this above average (not P.C.) World War II (Warner Bros.) film.Cary Grant plays the decorated Captain of the sub, John Garfield plays its heroic gunner, Alan Hale its sentimental cook, Dane Clark a crewman with an ax to grind, and Robert Hutton its newest member "The Kid".
William Prince plays the sub's "medical" staff, who's called upon to perform a miraculous operation when Hutton's character comes down with an appendicitis (based on a true story!).John Ridgely plays a Naval Officer who was raised in Japan, that's needed for the mission, and is picked up en-route.
John Forsythe (who with Hutton was making his credited film debut) plays the radio operator who, along with Garfield and Ridgely, goes ashore in Japan under cover of darkness to fulfill the task at hand..
Don't Take Any Wooden Yen. Suave submarine skipper Cary Grant (as Cassidy) leads a Christian crew from San Francisco to Tokyo Bay, to fight the Godless Japanese.
Star Grant is enjoyable, albeit not entirely successful, in an atypical war hero role.Soldiering John Garfield (as Wolf) and Dane Clark (as Tin Can) head up a likable crew.
Ouch!***** Destination Tokyo (12/31/43) Delmer Daves ~ Cary Grant, John Garfield, Dane Clark.
Talky and Overlong WWII Submarine Movie that was Made in the Middle of the War and is Heavy on Sentimentality and Propaganda.
These Sub Crew Members are Cut out of All Stripes from the American Flag and make No Bones about Speechifying and in One Case, John Garfield, Extreme Braggadocio about Babes.Cary Grant Plays Against Type as a Super Serious Commander with Nerves of Steel and a Countenance of Concrete.
An ur-submarine war movie from Warner Brothers.
And the Navy didn't want to release enough information about sonar equipment to make the scope look like anything other than an oscilloscope later sold to the producers of "Plan Nine From Outer Space." And maybe it's hard to believe that Cary Grant would daydream about his kid's first haircut while the submarine is about to implode on him.
It must have been a change of pace for movie goers because Grant had not done much drama as he was always being cast in light comedies.I have watched the DVD version of this in the Cary Grant signature collection & the copy is very well made, like they found a pristine studio master to make it from.
At the time the film was made the Japanese military had committed far more atrocities than the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.
First I'd like to say that I could easily tell that Destination Tokyo was produced during the war rather than after due to its over the top patriotism.
And of course, they all love their country and miss their wives.The one particular scene which I found made this movie rise above the rest was the scene in which Cary Grant was explaining why the downed Japanese Airman killed their favorite torpedoman with a knife.
I thought this was a bold statement in a time of war, especially WWII.I really enjoyed this movie not only for the action but also because of the human story.
Morton sank 19 Japanese ships in his first year and a half--more than any other US sub at the time), the US Navy decided to break its rules on secrecy and allow news accounts of the USS Wahoo's patrols.
That movie is "Destination Tokyo" and it is said that Cary Grant met Capt.
To call this film "propaganda" as other reviewers have, is to belittle the USS Wahoo and the fantastic successes of its captain and crew who died in action after this film was released, and can only be excused on the basis of ignorance of the history behind the making of "Destination Tokyo." This film is important then both because it is based upon the success of a real US sub in action and because it was one of the early submarine films of the second World War.I regret that the news account: "A WWII Submarine Finally Comes Home Divers Find the USS Wahoo, the Most Storied of U.S. Subs By NED POTTER" which contains the interview and appeared at www.sungazette.com/News/articles.asp?articleID=11380 is no longer on the web so the above URL will not work..
Destination Tokyo-When War Films Meant Something ***.
Led by Cary Grant, a tough, but real family man, this film goes on to explain various situations, including an emergency appendectomy done by a pharmacist on board the ship.John Garfield, as Wolfie, steals the show.
The commander of this vessel is a man named "Captain Cassidy" (Cary Grant) and like many of the men who have served with him has 5 successful patrols to his credit.
Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that as far as "submarine movies" are concerned this film certainly ranks as one of the better ones out there.
By the time of its release of Warner Brothers DESTINATION TOKYO (1943), it was coming across crystal clear; The Allies were in for a long, drawn out war.
For some reason to me, it didn't seem logical that Cary Grant, of all people, could successfully captain a submarine.
Also, have fun listening to Tokyo Rose who war predictions will turn out to be absolutely false.When Cary Grant says, "I hear that a lot of Japanese are happy to die for their emperor.
"Destination Tokyo" has great detail of showing life during war on a submarine where men of all walks of life became brothers to fight a battle they truly believed in..
Cary Grant - still doing his best in 1943 to avoid returning to England and enlist in the REAL armed forces unlike David Niven - is excellent as the captain as is John Garfield in his signature wise guy persona and, if it comes to that, the majority of the supporting cast..
I didn't sense that kind of palpable danger with "Destination Tokyo", primarily because of the ease with which Captain Cassidy (Cary Grant) made it into and out of Tokyo Harbor through the submarine net.
I miss Cary Grant in the dress (one of his other movies?)..
I thought of that as I watched this movie, since during coursework for my recent American History degree I studied what happened to the Japanese Americans during World War II. |
tt0449010 | Eragon | Arya, elf princess of Ellesméra, runs for her life, carrying a strange stone. A Shade (dark sorcerer) called Durza, subordinate of king Galbatorix, pursues and corners Arya, who uses magic to send the stone away.
Eragon, a farm boy living in the country of Alagaësia with his uncle, is hunting for food when he comes across the stone. Hoping to trade it for food, Eragon brings the stone home, and finds a blue dragon hatching from it. As he touches the dragon, a magical mark is burned into his palm. A few people are shown reacting to this incident, including Arya, an old man named Brom, and Galbatorix himself.
Eragon shelters and feeds the dragon, which learns to fly and magically grows to full size. She calls herself Saphira. When they are out, Durza's monstrous minions, the Ra'zac, arrive at the village to look for the dragon, killing Eragon's uncle in the process. Blaming Saphira for his uncle's death, Eragon sends her away. Brom shows up, warns Eragon of Saphira's importance, and urges him to call her back. The three then leave town.
Brom leads the group to the Varden, rebel freedom fighters opposing Galbatorix. On the way, Brom fills Eragon in on the knowledge of dragon riders, Galbatorix, Durza and the Ra'zac. He also trains Eragon sword-fighting. In a small village, they meet where a fortune-teller named Angela, who tells Eragon of a woman awaiting his help, and that his dangerous path ahead. When Brom and Eragon are attacked by Galbatorix's servants, the Urgals, Eragon attempts to mimic Brom and wipes out the whole group with a magic attack, then falls unconscious from the strain. Brom teaches him to control his magic and bond his powers with Saphira.
Durza sets a trap for Eragon, using Arya as bait. Hearing her telepathic calls, Eragon finds her, but is ambushed by Durza. Eragon is outmatched, and Brom arrives to help him, getting mortally wounded in the process. Eragon shoots an arrow into Durza's head, causing him to disappear. The trio escapes, and Brom dies of his wounds while flying on Saphira.
Eragon confronts a hooded figure that has been following them. He reveals himself to be Murtagh and guides them to the Varden. Soon after, Durza and his men surround the rebel camp. Eragon, Saphira, Arya, and the Varden prepare for battle. Arya, Murtagh and the Varden fight Galbatorix's forces as Eragon and Saphira duel in the skies with Durza who rides his own beast. Eragon and Saphira kill Durza, but Saphira is heavily injured. Eragon uses his magic to heal her and once again passes out from the strain.
The following morning, Eragon awakes with Murtagh at his side and finds Saphira fully healed. They catch up with Arya, who is on her way to Ellesméra to lead the elves in the coming war. She calls Eragon "Shadeslayer" and they part ways. Meanwhile, in his castle, a furious Galbatorix slashes at his hanging map of Alagaesia, revealing his immense pitch black dragon, Shruikan. | good versus evil, cult, fantasy, action | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0035774 | Daffy - The Commando | A German commander – Von Vultur – is tempestuously pacing back and forth while fuming and spluttering furiously about how many American commandos have managed to slip into Germany undetected, while a snippet from Wagner's Das Rheingold plays on the soundtrack. He gets a telegram from the "Gestinko Gestapo", threatening him with his ‘ka-rear’ if he lets ‘vun’ more ‘kommando’ through (the letter is signed "The Apes Of Wrath" and shows three apes' heads; if you look closely, the apes are caricatures of Hitler, Hirohito and Mussolini, the last of whom is crossed out). The settings recalls World War I trenches more than any actual scene of World War II. Hearing an American warplane overhead, he calls in his servant – Schultz – whom he abuses by knocking him regularly over his helmet with a mallet. They run outside and use a searchlight to search for any more landing commandos and eventually spot one, who just happens to be Daffy floating down on a parachute, whilst singing Billy Bennet's "She was Poor But She Was Honest" in a Cockney accent.
After a quick shout of "Put out those lights!" gets the searchlight turned off temporarily and allows him to land unseen, Daffy uses his fingers on the searchlight’s lens to make shadows of animated puppets and dancing chorus girls on the clouds to distract the Germans. When Von Vultur chases Daffy behind a curtain that says "asbestos", Daffy makes a face similar to the stereotypical Japanese faces used in cartoons at the time (see, for example, Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips), causing Von Vultur to run off frightened.
Back at his bunker, Von Vultur is presented with a ticking time bomb from Daffy "as a little token of our esteem". Just realizing its imminent danger, he hands the bomb off to Schultz, who is literally blown through the roof. When Schultz falls back, Daffy (who was hiding underneath Shultz's helmet) stops Von Vultur from hitting Schultz over the head with a mallet, and instead hits him. Von Vultur (pausing briefly to salute a skunk with "Heil Hitler!") chases Daffy to a telephone booth, where Daffy continues to make fun of him, such as nicknaming him "Von Limburger" (after the infamously foul-smelling cheese).
Daffy then jumps in a plane, narrowly avoiding being shot by "a whole mess of Messerschmitts". When Daffy is shot down by Von Vultur, his plane is literally blown to pieces (its entire body progressively disintegrating and disappearing from back to front, eventually leaving just the engine and propeller), with Daffy still clinging to the controls. Daffy then runs into what he believes is a tunnel where he can hide, but it turns out to be the barrel of a huge howitzer cannon, and he’s then shot out by Von Vultur. However, Daffy flies unharmed (as a ‘human cannonball’) into Berlin, where (a largely rotoscoped) Adolf Hitler is making one of his infamous emotionally-inflamed furiously-ranting public speeches (although he's actually speaking in mock German and saying humorous phrases such as "Mein Heineken"). Daffy jumps up and whacks Hitler on the head with a mallet, causing Hitler to yell for Schultz, similar to Von Vultur. | psychedelic | train | wikipedia | This is a good cartoon, and a good example of wartime humor - which by 1943, when the war was really beginning to bite back home in the US, had quite an edge.The phone booth gag is "Is that you, Mert?" a fossilized gag phrase from the period, taken from "Fibber McGee and Molly".
If you like old cartoons, it helps to be familiar with old-time radio of the period, because the cartoons mined radio for gags constantly (and Mel Blanc was a star in both, as a regular on the number one-rated Jack Benny show).
The cartoons are full of show catch phrases, advertising slogans, and caricatures of movie and radio stars and minor characters.The pinup picture is startling.
You can see on the back wall at the first appearance of "Shulz", when he marches across the bunker floor to report.For real unvarnished Freleng/Warner Brothers wartime humor, check out the "Private Snafu" series, which were intended for distribution to the troops only..
Daffy joins the military as a commando.
This is a marvelous little bit of propaganda using Daffy to help lampoon the enemy, in this case the Nazis.
I think my favorite bit is Daffy singing as he parachutes down, although the ending is a close second.
Something I find myself wondering when I see this cartoon (which probably means I have way too much time on my hands) is whether the writers on the film Stalag 17 decided to name the guard in their film Schultz after this cartoon's Schultz and if, in turn, Schultz in Hogan's Heros was named after the guard in the film.
Incredibly weird yet entertaining Daffy Duck cartoon, Daffy teases and annoys a German bird (representing a German fighting in the Second World War) - now we have to cheer for Daffy when THAT part comes up!
However, this short is also quite disturbing - you are likely not to take it for a light comedy.
Warner Brothers must have been pretty brave to make this short - ESPECIALLY while the World War was going on.For people who are very disturbed by the prospect of WWII and for Germans - not recommended.
People who love Daffy Duck and like the prospect of him teasing with the Nazis in the war, will certainly like this cartoon.Also Daffy, as being around for only six years, is in his old crazy self - very entertaining for any fan of old Daffy Duck episodes.Despite being slightly disturbing, this cartoon is also actually quite funny.
Enjoy "Daffy - the Commando"..
Daffy the Commando.
I have always been a big Looney Tunes fan, and especially of Daffy.
Daffy-The Commando is not quite one of my favourites, I'd personally put Duck Amuck, the Hunting Trilogy and Duck Dodgers in the 24.5 Century over this, however it is a very interesting, very funny and very bold cartoon.The animation is beautiful, especially in the detailed backgrounds and ravishing colours.
The music has energy and is fitting with the style of music at the time, the dialogue as always is fresh and funny and the gags are great with the standout being the fight over a nickel in the phone booth.Story-wise it is exciting and interesting from a historical perspective.
For its time, it is quite bold especially with the ending, which could account for why it was apparently banned, but rather than be offended by the boldness I appreciated it.Daffy has always been one of my favourite cartoon characters due to his manic and zany persona even with some greediness creeping in in some of the cartoons but to me this didn't make him less likable, and he is on top form here.
The support characters are also memorable, as well as the brilliant vocal talents of Mel Blanc.Overall, a great cartoon.
From the characters, it would appear that this episode was the prompt for the situation comedy, "Hogan's Heroes"..
Daffy The Commando (1943)*** (out of 4)The nutty Daffy Duck finds himself behind enemy lines and going up against a German idiot who doesn't seem to know who he's dealing with.DAFFY THE COMMANDO is another World War II spoof that was meant to rally up people in the United States.
These political shorts are always interesting to view today and this here is a good one.
The majority of the running time has Daffy being pretty nutty as he's constantly getting the better of the German guy who is rather dumb.
The film also has a cameo from Hitler who has a rather funny meeting with Daffy.
Nice as propaganda but Daffy deserves funnier material.
Having just watched Donald Duck as a Nazi in one cartoon I decided to continue the Duck/propaganda theme and watch this Daffy Duck cartoon – my favorite of the two animated ducks.
This one sees Daffy in the role of an Allied Forces commando trying to infiltrate enemy lines while at the same time Herr Von Vulture is on his last warning to stop such incursions.I was looking forward to this because very early on we see that it is "zany" Daffy, which is my preferred version of his character and one I find very funny usually.
I say usually because the comedy here is just a little bit too obvious and I didn't find it quite as funny as I should have done.
Some moments are quite clever but mostly it is hammer-hitting as the majority of the action (although the final stroke is a good one).
It is a shame because the characters are good – Daffy is in good form and Von Vulture is a funny creation, even if a little obvious.
Works as a piece of propaganda but for zany, crazy Daffy, the material here is just too close to "ordinary" to work..
WE'VE JUST RE-SCREENED this 1943 Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes Short.
We hadn't seen it in some time and perhaps it was being taken for granted.
Such is the fate of those who rely too much on recollection.BEING THAT THIS cartoon is now 71 years old, we feel reasonably certain that much of the goings on are now rendered not understandable to many or even most present day viewers.
That meant that there'd certainly be plenty of 'messages' interwoven into the weekly movie fare.IN SHORT, WE'LL call it what it is, Propaganda!
NOW THAT'S A word that has taken on such narrow meaning because of its nearly always used in reference to 'the Enemy.' It is, however, a legitimately proper word to be used in regards to instruction meant to clarify or indoctrinate* one's own people in policy, procedure and purpose.IN TODAY'S SUBJECT title, we find our favourite aquatic manic, Daffy Duck, thrust into a nightmare of a surrealist cartoon world, which is run by anthropomorphic animals.
Although this is all an illusion and we know that it is being played strictly for laughs, there is always tiny tidbits of irony and truth behind each and every gag.UNFOLDING LIKE A cross between a bad dream and copy from the daily newspapers of the day, DAFFY THE COMMANDO serves a two fold purpose.
It allows the wartime movie goer to unwind a little and forget the harsh realities of the times.
Secondly, it conditions our inner psyche about the serious business that we all faced.CONSTRUCTING THE GAGS in a sort of rapid fire, machine gun approach, the Writer, Michael Maltese and Director Fritz Freleng used time tested gags.
Tailoring their recycling to the War, it was merely packaged in the manner of the situations appropriate.FOR EXAMPLE, WE have: Daffy's nonchalant and irreverent attitude to the Nazi fetish for the totalitarian, Daffy's using their searchlight for the purpose of projecting finger shadows on the sky, the Robot-like foot soldier 'Schultz' and the 'Nazi German' Vulture Officer's resemblance in caricature to either Eric von Stroheim (Rommel in FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO), Raymond Massey (character in DESPERATE JOURNEY) and Conrad Veidt (CASABLANCA, Major Strasser).OTHER THAN SO much topical humor, such as gag reference to "Blavkouts" and the Nazi Vulture's reference to telefon operator as being "Myrt" from Radio's FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY, we thought that the humor flowed freely and was followed by equally generous portions of laughs!
FOR OUR MONEY, this is a true 'Tour de Force' for Daffy.NOTE * 'Indoctrination', now there's yet another word with bad co native meanings!.
The Essential WWII Cartoon.
I was nine when I saw this.
This is the essential World War II cartoon.
I am a WWII buff today, and I think it's in a large part due to this cartoon.
It has some great moments: Daffy putting on a hand/puppet show in the spotlight, the fight over a nickel in the phone booth, and a climax of Daffy wacking Hitler over the head with a mallet.
And if you look carefully, you can see a nude pinup in the Nazi bunker!.
Turner Classic Movies has a Saturday Morning "Cartoon" Alley hosted by Josh Mankiewicz.
They showed three Warner Brother Cartoons that were done for the morale of home audiences respecting the war effort in World War II.
This was the first one.I have to admit that I first saw this in the 1960s, when it was shown fairly frequently.
The business of Von Falcon, the Nazi Commandant, cleaning his eye which looked like the sort of monocle that Conrad Veidt wore in ESCAPE was funny, but I could not see the reference.
Nor did I understand "Oh is that you Mert?" when Von Falcon tries to use the payphone (the rate of a nickel for the phone call is rather upsetting in 2007 - if one uses a pay phone now it usually is $ .25 for a local call).
The reference to Fibber McGee would be a dead loss in 1963, even though Bob Sweeney would be in a drab television version of the Jordans' successful radio comedy.The plot of this ten minute cartoon is simple.
Von Falcon is assigned to keep American commandos out of his area - or else!
He spots Daffy Duck parachuting in*, and with the aid of Private Schultz he tries to capture Daffy.
Instead Daffy manages to blow up Schultz (with a bomb meant for Von Falcon, and to cause four Messerschmidts to destroy each other trying to hit his plane ("A mess of Messerschmidts", Daffy chortles triumphantly).
Finally, however, the German bird momentarily gets the better of Daffy and shoots him out of a cannon.
But Daffy remains clever enough to use this to advantage - he is fired towards Berlin, and ends on the platform with Hitler (who is giving a speech), whom he hits on the head with a mallet.
All along Von Falcon has called for the loyal Private Schultz, who shows up just to be hit on the head with a mallet.
Now it is Der Fuhrer who calls for Schultz, as the cartoon ends.*Oddly he is singing the old British music hall song, "It's the same the whole world over" as he descends.It has been pointed out that the hapless Private Schultz in the cartoon may be the origin for the John Banner character in HOGAN'S HEROES.
But actually, the character and the constant calling of his name by his superior officer is taken from the movie TO BE OR NOT TO BE by Ernst Lubitsch, and starring Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, and Sig Ruman.
When, at the end of that movie, Erhardt thinks he is in disgrace with Hitler over Lombard, Erhardt pulls out his revolver.
With him being all helmet, eyes (wide behind glasses) and feet, he is the model for the later immortal Martin the Martian - Daffy Duck Dodgers' evenly fallible rival in the future..
Daffy Duck versus the Nazis.
Daffy the Commando is one of those rare World War II cartoons that rarely see the light of day now.
However, for some reason, this cartoon shows up on two videos I had when I was a kid.
I enjoyed this cartoon when I was little, but I really had no clue what was really going on.
Daffy does his usual hijinks but flustering a couple of odd-looking birds and smashing Hitler on the head with a mallet.
It's just so weird to see a scene like that with Hitler speaking in front of his followers.
We've seen footage of that dozens of times, and it's just horrifying, but throw in Daffy Duck, a mallet, and you have some good physical comedy!Now truth be told, I'm not the biggest Daffy fan, especially the early version of Daffy, but this cartoon does provide some good laughs and is an interesting piece of animation history.
With Daffy Duck on our side, the enemy doesn't have a chance!My IMDb Rating: 7/10.
That's a good old patriotic duck!.
Many wartime cartoons ended up being pretty racist, due to how they portrayed the Japanese, but when they portrayed only Nazis, they were quite funny.
In "Daffy - The Commando", Daffy Duck parachutes into enemy territory and makes life a living hell for Nazi Kommandant Von Vulture.
Finally at the end, Von Vulture shoots Daffy out of a cannon, and Daffy lands next to Hitler, who is making a speech.
He promptly conks the Fuhrer on the head with a mallet.Some people may object to using Nazism for comedy, but remember, Charlie Chaplin did it masterfully in "The Great Dictator".
Admittedly, this cartoon isn't on the same level, but it's good for a few laughs..
. World War Two Era Looney Tune, DAFFY--THE COMMANDO finds himself surrounded in the sky by Racist Nazi enemy planes, whereupon he delivers perhaps the most memorable line in his career as a Warner Bros.
A whole mess of Messerschmitts!" At the time COMMANDO was released, Nazi Air Marshal Hermann "Fatso" Goering's Lufftwaffe had been terrorizing Europe for half a decade, relying largely on the aircraft designed by Nazi Baptist War Criminal Willy Messerschmitt.
Willy's slave laborers produced 33,984 of the Bf109-model fighter planes surrounding Daffy, mostly at the Mauthausen, KZ Gusen I and Gusen II Death Camps.
For his "collaboration" with the Nazi's, Willy spent two years in prison (or about 29 minutes per slaying) after VE-Day, and sullied this Earth with his presence well into 1978..
Mock German dialect is so funny!.
"Daffy - The Commando" is a terrific Daffy Duck cartoon made during the Second World War, so you can bet money on the fact that this film lampoons Hitler and his army of fascists, and it does so quite nicely.Here are, in my opinion, the funniest scenes in "Daffy - The Commando" (don't read any further if you haven't yet seen this cartoon).
When Schultz makes his first appearance, he goose-steps into Nazi headquarters, gets malleted on the cranium, and is forced to listen to a bunch of mock German from his superior.
Daffy is wonderfully hilarious when he rushes into the telephone booth, then he sticks his head out as he indignantly asks the Nazi commander to wait his turn, and then Daffy politely asks him for a nickel (all in the worst mock German, with English subtitles).
And Daffy bouncing wildly in the fuselage of his airplane, after the "mess of Messerschmitts" destroys each other, is a sight to behold.Directed by the great Friz Freleng, "Daffy - The Commando" is surely a cartoon to laugh at, or laugh WITH, whichever is more appropriate..
Daffy taking on the Germans.
One of the 'looney tunes go to war' shorts, as Daffy lands somewhere in Europe to kick some nazi ass.
There's a funny scene introducing him, as he's landing with his parachute and he is spotted by a huge searchlight.
So Daffy screams: 'Hey, turn off the light!' and obviously, the dumb German guy (or animal, as you wish) does at his command.Story then gets into a chase that leads nowhere (something with a phone booth, I didn't really get it) and Daffy also takes out half a dozen nazi aeroplanes, before finally getting caught in a huge cannon.
But Daffy makes the most of it as he uses a couple of American flags as wings to fly him towards (a real looking) Hitler, he can hit on the head with a huge hammer.By far not the best in it's genre, but Daffy's never really been my favorite Looney Tune anyway...5/10..
One of the best Daffy cartoons ever made....
This is by far, one of the best cartoons in all Looney Tunes cartoon history.Sadly, it has been banned in most places for poking fun at Nazis and Hitler (both of which were very deserving targets for jokes at the time.
And still are, in some cases.)Daffy outsmarts a couple Nazi birds, but eventually gets caught by the head vulture, who shoots him out of a cannon.
Daffy soars into the sky, showing off his American pride, and then smacks Hitler on the head with a mallet.
Truly classic.Great cartoon, made during one of the worst times in history.
Not one of Daffy's better moments.
Historically speaking, this is a pretty important film, as it helped solidify the public in the war effort against the Nazis.
However, from a purely aesthetic point of view, it's not one of the better made or entertaining Daffy Duck films ever made.Daffy appears behind German lines and spends most of the film annoying a Nazi officer and his flunky, Schultz.
Again and again, Daffy outwits them until the end, when he is shot by a howitzer and he lands in the middle of one of Hitler's speeches.
Oddly, while it was a cartoon, Hitler looked very realistic.
The film ends with Daffy bashing Hitler over the head with a mallet.On Google videos, this cartoon short appears under the heading "banned cartoons" and whether or not Warner Brothers actually banned or at least pulled it from circulation in unknown, though considering most of the public have no interest in WWII propaganda cartoons, I wouldn't be surprised if they did. |
tt0028054 | The Old Corral | After witnessing nightclub owner Tony Pearl murdered by gangster Mike Scarlotti (John Bradford), blues singer Eleanor Spenser (Irene Manning) flees Chicago and heads West on a bus. Soon her picture appears in newspapers across the country. The bus makes a stop in Turquoise City, New Mexico, where Martin Simms (Cornelius Keefe), the crooked owner of the Blue Moon saloon, befriends Eleanor. After seeing her picture in the newspapers, Simms, who is hoping to collect a reward from Scarlotti, sends the gangster a telegram revealing Eleanor's whereabouts.
The bus is held up by the O'Keefe Brothers (Sons of the Pioneers), a local aspiring singing troupe seeking publicity. Sheriff Gene Autry (Gene Autry) arrests all of the O'Keefe Brothers, except Buck and Tom who escape. Meanwhile, Simms sees Eleanor preparing to leave town and is able to convince her to stay. Gene arrives on the scene and recognizes Eleanor from the bus. She introduces herself as Jane Edwards, the new entertainer at his Blue Moon saloon. Sometime later Gene sees Eleanor's picture in a newspaper and goes to the Blue Moon saloon to protect her against Simms. Gene and Eleanor end up singing a song together.
Gene discovers Buck and Tom in their hideout at the old corral and hires the O'Keefes to perform at the town plaza for Turquoise City's celebration of its new dam. During the concert, Scarlotti arrives and threatens Simms, trying to force him to reveal Eleanor's whereabouts. Deputy Frog (Smiley Burnette) is able to warn Eleanor about Scarlotti's arrival and takes her to the old corral to hide. Scarlotti follows them to the old corral. Gene recruits the O'Keefe Brothers as his posse, who stampede cattle, forcing Scarlotti's men to scatter. Gene arrests Scarlotti, and Eleanor names him as the murderer of Tony Pearl. Gene also arrests Simms for intimidating a witness. Gene then releases the O'Keefe Brothers, sings another song, and kisses Eleanor. | violence | train | wikipedia | Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and .
Only a year after starring in the action serial THE PHANTOM EMPIRE, Gene Autry was already a singing cowboy star.
In this film he costars with sidekick Smiley Burnette and a young Roy Rogers, who does not get individual billing but is grouped along with the Sons of the Pioneers.
A highpoint of this film is Good Guy Gene ordering Bad Guy Roy to yodel at gunpoint!
Also in the movie is a young (29) Lon Chaney as the manager of a gambling hall who shows a very wide yellow streak when some big city gangsters decide to muscle in.
Don't worry, Gene and Smiley will save the day and have time to sing a few songs too..
Great Autry/Rogers/Pioneers Outing.
This is a great Autry outing with a very young 24?
year old Leonard Slye with the newly formed Sons of the Pioneers.
One of the most beautiful of the Pioneers recordings is here "Silent Trails" to this fan a better song than "Tumbling Tubleweeds" or "Cool Water." The exterior scenes were the oft-used Iverson Ranch, very recognizable by the chase roads and rock formations.
The town scenes were the Republic Studios western set which i think was new at this 1936 time frame.
It became in the 1960's CBS Studio Center, back lot location for Gunsmoke, Big Valley, Cimmaron Strip and other westerns of the time.
As far as Old Corral is concerned its a fine movie, some say hokey but not this fan.
Autry and the pioneers, Smiley and the rest are fine in the film.
Only bad stuff to this fan were Oscar and Elmer, who I guess were maybe a radio duo or something similar at the time.
They were in a couple of Autry films..
It is fun to watch this old movie and see a young Roy Rogers as well as Gene Autry.
I like to guess where the outdoor scenes were done.
Another fun aspect of this era of Westerns is the blending of "modern" technology with the old west.
The Old Corral starts out a whole lot like the Bing Crosby Paramount classic, She Loves Me Not. If you'll remember chorus girl Miriam Hopkins witnesses a gangland murder and flees from the mob.
Here it's Irene Manning who's a nightclub entertainer who sees John Bradford do the same thing and flees out west.Well, those big city gangsters are way out of their element when they're tangling with Gene Autry.
Of course not everyone in the west is as friendly as Autry.
There's Cornelius Keefe and Lon Chaney, Jr. who recognize who Manning is before Autry does.
They own the local saloon and under the guise of giving her a break, hire Manning to entertain, but in the mean time call Bradford hoping to curry favor with the gangland boss.If that's not enough sheriff Gene has to contend with the Sons of the Pioneers and their lead singer, one Leonard Slye who play a brother singing group who take to being outlaws as a way to gain notoriety and a radio contract.
Of course in two years that lead singer left the group and started putting out his own westerns for Republic and Herbert J.
Yates under the name of Roy Rogers.I agree with a previous reviewer that Manning's soprano and Autry's western twang don't exactly mesh.
It might be why Gene mostly didn't go in for singing co-stars throughout his career, unlike his famous rival at Republic.
Of course Gene didn't marry a co-star the way Roy did.The scene where Manning is trying to make a go of saloon singing and falling on her derrière until Gene helps out is reminiscent of Jeanette MacDonald trying to sing for her supper in Rose Marie.
Jeanette had a co-star though who was more suitable to her voice.The Old Corral is kind of dopey, especially the bit about The Sons of the Pioneers.
Still it's a great bit of history, an historic meeting between Gene Autry and Roy Rogers..
Sons of Pioneers musical number.
"The Old Corral" became famous for its fight scene between Gene Autry and his future competitor at Republic, Roy Rogers, known at that time as Dick Weston.
Rogers was part of the Sons of the Pioneers musical group featured in Autry's pictures.
In this film, they play highwaymen (overland bus robbers) who also known how to warble a tune.
While most of them are captured and put in jail, young Weston gets away and Autry has to go after him, not only for the robbery but because the group needs his harmony.
After he is subdued, Autry asks him to yodel.
In the next scene, the group is shown singing "Silent Trail," a moving ballad about the passing of the old West.
They always gave their songs a bit more class than the usual "hillbilly" groups Autry had in his films, who had been taken from the National Barn Dance radio show..
"The Old Corral" has most of what you could ask for in one of these old Westerns, with good action and interesting characters, as well as the variety entertainment that you expect in a Gene Autry feature.
It has Autry as a sheriff having to contend with a family of outlaws at the same time that he is trying to protect a woman on the run, and while the plot often lacks credibility, it's entertaining and moves at a good pace.
Besides Autry, it has Smiley Burnette in one of his usual roles, and the supporting cast features brief appearances by Lon Chaney, Jr., Roy Rogers, and Edward Platt - quite an assortment.
Certainly there's nothing remarkable here, but it's good entertainment that most fans of older Westerns will find enjoyable..
One of Autry's best with a young Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers..
Gene Autry and Smiley Burnett (Frog) are singing and croaking their way through another Saturday matinee.
Look for a very young Roy Rogers (Leonard Slye) and the Sons of the Pioneers..
A good Autry movie.
This is a good Gene Autry movie.This movie has a young Roy Rogers in it.He plays a good (bad) character.He is part of a singing group called " The O'keefe Brothers" (The Son's of the Pioneers) and they provide some very good songs in the movie.Gene and Hope Manning also sing some songs.It has a pretty good plot to it as well.Smiley Burnett displays his musical ability and his comedy ability.It has a very short fight scene between Gene and Roy(guess who wins?).All in all an enjoyable movie..
Gene and the Sons of the Pioneers to the Rescue.
Eleanor Spencer, a nightclub singer, witnesses racketeer Scarlotti shoot down rival gangster Pearl.
Spencer takes a run for it with Scarlotti and every newspaper from Chicago to Los Angeles posting notices for her testimony.
She ends up in Turquoise City, where bar owner Simms recognizes her and decides to hold her for Scarlotti, who he hopes will give him money for turning her over.
Simms is being watched closely by Sheriff Gene Autry, who decides to protect her.
It's up to Gene and the Sons of the Pioneers (who held up Gene and a group of bus passengers in order to get some food money, even though they really wanted a radio contract) to save Eleanor from being taken by Scarlotti's thugs (who made the cross country trek).
Very enjoyable western thats very typical of an early Autry Republic.
Also interesting to see Roy Rogers holding up Gene early in the movie (something you don't see everyday).
The climax was a little weak, and the songs were not integrated too well with the movie (Autry's country voice and Manning's operatic did not blend well in the barroom song).
Interesting to see Roy Rogers & Gene Autry in same movie.
Although the movie is typical of the "B" westerns, it is interesting to see Gene Autry & Roy Rogers in the same movie & realize the Roy surpassed Gene in popularity when Gene enlisted & served in World War 2 Gene actually kisses the girl in the final scene !!.
A thrilling and satisfying old western..
Old Corral is a very enjoyable film.
Gene Autry proves that he stands in a class on his own, showing good acting skills, a great singing voice (as always) and the proper energy that the role demands.
Hope (Irene) Manning is pretty good as Eleanor Spencer aka June Edwards, but one can easily tell why most people still don't know her as a great actress.
And, of course, Smiley Burnett is the quintescential Gene Autry sidekick, always a welcome screen presence as far as I'm concerned.Since I do enjoy some country music, I liked the appearance of the Sons of the Pioneers, and a young Roy Rogers was supposed to be among them.
After that, he drifts in with the background extras.Then there's the action scenes.
All in all, though, it's a good film that I recommend for anybody who wants to watch a enjoyable classic western..
Early Autry Programmer.
I wonder what theatergoers in 1936 thought when they expected cowboys and instead were greeted in the opening scenes by an urban nightclub.
Good thing action soon transfers to cowboy country.
Eleanor (Manning) is on the run after witnessing a murder in the city, and now fortunately she has Sheriff Gene looking after her.
So Gene ends up battling two gangs instead of the usual one.This is a very early Autry western, before, for example, Frog (Burnette) settled into his clownish comedy relief.
It's weird, however, seeing cowboys alongside the old-timey four-wheel flivvers.
Just a pretty good mix of action and song.
Still, I wish it were a better selection of tunes since the Sons Of The Pioneers are on hand to vocalize along with Gene.
Also look fast for Roy Rogers as a cowboy henchman, along with Lon Chaney Jr. in a sizable baddie role before he became the definitive Wolf Man (1941).
All in all, it's a decent Autry programmer with some interesting features of its own..
This is the first Gene Autry movie I've seen - I decided to give it a look seeing that it was paired with another movie I bought on DVD, and that it also had Roy Rogers, the other singing cowboy.
In some ways, it is a strange movie.
It takes place in a world that has gasoline-powered vehicles and other modern (for the time) conveniences, but at the same time it has cowboys on horseback acting like they are living in a world several decades in the past!
There are other laughable parts in the movie, like really bad back screen projection and tires that screech on dirt roads.
But most of the movie is pretty dull in nature.
Even though the movie runs less than an hour, it is extremely padded, when more time should have been given to develop the story properly (among other script screw-ups, it never properly introduces the female heroine at the beginning.) As for the (expected) songs, most of them sound alike, and won't stick in your head for a second after they're finished.
If you grew up with Gene Autry westerns and are feeling nostalgic, I recommend that you keep your rosy memories and not shatter them by revisiting this movie..
Despite the novelty of having Roy Rogers appear (very briefly) in this Gene Autry film, there is very little to distinguish this cowboy film.
The plot isn't especially interesting and Autry doesn't sing anything particularly memorable or enjoyable.The film begins with a mobster murdering some sap--and a woman witnessing it.
Instead of going to the police, she runs--and ends up out west.
Naturally she soon meets up with nice-guy, Gene and the two soon end up between a local gang of jerks (one of which is played by Lon Chaney, Jr.) and the gang from back east.
And, will anyone particularly care?I've seen a few dozen Autry films and would have to place it near the bottom.
Even the usually likable Smiley Burnette and his antics are really subdued in this one and the action never really heats up.
All In Fun Western.
This may not be Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette's best film but it's not a bad movie.
What makes this film extra fun and special is the fact that Roy Rogers shows up as Buck O'Keefe - that yodel scene really cracked me up laughing.
We also have Lon Chaney Jr as Garland - Simms partner.
Makes for a fun film overall.We get a few songs, some gun firing, a few punches and a cool cast.
The story is a bit strange: A woman witnesses a murder and ends up in a town that is still more like the old west rather than modern (for the time era).
Of course our singing cowboy and sheriff Gene Autry is there to save the day.7.5/10.
Roy Rogers to Gene Autry - "Put 'em up Sheriff!".
This is one of Gene Autry's most easily obtained films, but if you pick up a recently made copy, you're likely to see Roy Rogers with equal billing on the video or DVD sleeve.
It was only one of two times that the cowboy stars appeared in a film together, and since it was Gene's picture for Republic Studios, Roy appears uncredited as one of the Sons of the Pioneers.
Born Leonard Slye, his name with the Pioneers was Dick Weston before he became Gene's replacement at Republic as Roy Rogers.Smiley Burnette is on hand as Autry's sidekick here as he often was, his character was named Frog owing to that deep, low falsetto he sometimes uses.
Perhaps the most unique casting decision of the film, after the fact of course, was that of Lon Chaney Jr. as a henchman for Martin Simms (Cornelius Keefe).
It would be another five years or so before "The Wolf Man" would establish Chaney's name as a horror icon, but you know, he appeared in quite a few Westerns in his career, and some quite good ones at that, including 1952's "High Noon".
You'll also catch him as a guest in a handful of classic TV Westerns as his career was winding down.As far as the story goes, "The Old Corral" is one of those modern Westerns where the Old West meets a developing America with automobiles and electrical appliances in plain sight; I thought it was pretty cool to see a General Electric marquee during an opening traffic scene.
I wonder if that was a little bit of early product placement, or just a consequence of being in the right place at the right time.The plot has a story loosely built around a witness to a murder back East, with singer Eleanor Spencer (Hope Manning) attempting to maintain a low profile in an out of the way town called Turquoise City where Gene is sheriff.
Actually, there are two sets of bad guys in the picture, with gangster Scarlotti (John Bradford) chasing Spencer cross country to eliminate her as a witness, while Simms and Garland (Chaney) try to ingratiate themselves with the singer in order to cash in with Scarlotti.You know, I'll never be able to figure out why the shooting starts in a lot of these early 'B' oaters.
For example, when Scarlotti's gang takes off in their car chasing Simms and Spencer, one of the gangsters turns and shoots at Gene during the Turquoise Day festivities.
When Scarlotti arrived at Turquoise City, he had five henchmen along with him.
During the final confrontation with the good guys, Smiley shoots the driver, one is run over by the cattle stampede, and another is shown being shot and falling down (Smiley again).
Presumably, those villains are as good as dead, but at the very end, all six are shown in jail together!
No math majors on this set.But I guess that's what made up the fun in these early films, with not much thought given to logic and reasoning.
Gene was actually pretty generous in sharing the singing assignments here.
While he handles his share, Roy and the Pioneers knock out a couple as well, and Smiley shows his versatility by playing an accordion and harmonica at the same time, while using his feet to bang a xylophone!
Oh yeah, Gene and Roy both yodel too!.
Just about all the fans will like this one!.
In "The Old Corral" (1936), Republic managed to assemble such a fine cast into the fast-moving yet laden-with-musical-numbers script that even director Joe Kane was inspired to contribute some unusually stylish and super-competent work.
Mind you, this is a favorite Autry vehicle not only with me but with Roy Rogers' fans (the scene in which Gene forces Roy to sing is a classic).
Lon Chaney, Junior's fans are cheering too, although in point of fact, Lon has actually little to do.
Although cramming an unusual number of songs into 56 minutes (fourteen to be precise), a fair bit of action is also center stage, featuring fast inserts and exciting stunt work.
Gangsters meet the singing Sheriff Gene Autry..
Chicago gangsters arrive in town in their limousine looking for songstress Eleanore Spenser(Hope Manning).
Local sheriff Autry will do his best to straighten things out.
Deputy Frog Millhouse(Smiley Burnette)tries to find a safe place to hide the singer; while Gene is rounding up the singing O'Keefe brothers(Sons of the Pioneers), who were previously arrested and released to help in taking on the gangsters and run them out of Turquoise City.There is always time for song during an Autry flick: Eleanore will sing "With All My Heart", "Sons of the Pioneers" will vocalize on "Down Along the Rio Grande" and Gene will sing "Money Ain't No Use Anyhow" and the title song "Old Corral".
Note that another singing cowboy Roy Rogers is a member of the Sons of the Pioneers.
Also in the cast: Lon Chaney, Jr., John Bradford, Charles Sullivan and Merrill McCormick. |
tt0259393 | Lantana | An unknown woman's body is seen caught in the lantana bush, missing a shoe. Leon (Anthony LaPaglia), a police officer, and Jane (Rachael Blake) have sex in a motel room. They part ways, and we see that Leon and his wife Sonja (Kerry Armstrong) attend Latin dance classes that the recently-separated Jane is also taking. Leon does not enjoy the classes, and is seen savagely beating a drug dealer during a bust. He has emotional issues, but won't confront or admit to them. Sonja sees a therapist, Valerie (Barbara Hershey) who has just published a book on her own daughter's murder 18 months ago. She and her husband, John, (Geoffrey Rush) are barely on speaking terms; he later refers to their marriage as held together by their grief. She feels threatened by another patient of hers, Patrick Phelan, who is having an affair with a married man and is forcing Valerie to confront her own issues in her marriage to John.
Hoping to see Leon again, Jane purposely bumps into him outside the police station, and they have sex again, despite Leon's reservations about taking it any further. Her next door neighbour, Nik, is upset that she is seeing someone because he is friends with her estranged husband Pete, who wants to return home. Jane pairs up with Sonja in the next salsa class, which angers Leon; he ends their arrangement, which upsets Jane. She invites Nik over for coffee at the behest of his wife, Paula, with whom she is friendly, and offers him money as they are struggling. Paula starts to dislike Jane because of it.
Valerie is coming home late one night and drives off the road. She is stranded, and makes several calls to John, who does not answer. Finally, she is seen approaching a car coming along the road, but never makes it home. Leon is the investigating detective on the case, and looks into her office and notes. Surprised at seeing his wife's name and file, he takes a recording of their sessions.
Leon arrives home late but Sonja is not asleep: he asks her about her therapy sessions with Valerie, they discuss their relationship and he tells her of his affair which had just ended, but that he still loves her. Sonja is very upset and feels betrayed. Leon sleeps on the couch, in the morning Sonja says he'll be lucky if she returns home that night. Leon goes to John's house to interrogate him as the main suspect in his wife's disappearance. Leon starts a discussion about love, marriage and having affairs but lies to John when asked if he ever had an affair. Leon goes to Jane's house on police duty, because she has placed a call. Her neighbours are Paula (Daniella Farinacci), a nurse, and Nik (Vince Colosimo). Jane was up late one night, watching Nik arrive home and throw something in the bushes across the road from her house: later she finds it is a woman's shoe. Leon and his partner arrive at Jane's and declare that the shoe was Valerie's.
The police take Nik to the station and he leaves his children with Jane. Police call Paula to come in from her work. Neither Nik nor Paula knows that Jane made the police call. Although Paula does not like Jane, she calls her to thank her for minding their children. The police interrogate Nik but he refuses to answer questions about Valerie, repeatedly asking to see Paula. After seeing his wife, Nik calms down and talks with Leon and his partner. Valerie had car trouble and Nik was driving past; he agreed to give her a lift to her home but she panicked when he took a back road short cut and left his truck. Valerie had run off leaving behind her shoe. Paula goes to Jane's house to get her children, where she tells her that Nik is innocent of Valerie's disappearance. Jane asks how she knows that, and Paula simply replies that he told her. Jane asks if she can spend more time with the kids, but Paula forbids it, after seeing how Jane went over into her house and tidied it. Leon, his partner, Nik, and John go to the place where Valerie jumped out of the truck. They find her body where she had accidentally fallen down a ravine. Leon listens to the rest of the therapy tape where his wife had said that she still loved him and he bursts into tears.
Leon returns home and sees his wife outside. Jane salsa dances alone, drinking and smoking, while Pete leaves her. Patrick is pained to see his lover happily spending time with his wife and kids. Nik and Paula are seen happily spending time with their kids. The movie ends with Sonja and Leon dancing together seductively. Leon, who at the beginning of the film finds dancing with his wife difficult, now appears to be doing well. He looks Sonja directly in her eyes and dances just as she always wanted. Sonja struggles to initially return Leon's gaze but does so just before the movie ends. | realism, romantic, murder, flashback | train | wikipedia | In this starkly realistic examination of love and infidelity among the thirtysomething crowd from down under we learn that you may desire to cheat on your spouse, but it's better if you don't.Leon Zat, a police detective played with an original and striking demeanor by Anthony LaPaglia, cheats on his wife and finds that his adultery compromises not only his marriage but his performance on the job.
Even Sonja Zat (Kerry Armstrong) feels the pressure and yearns to feel attractive, perhaps with younger men.More than halfway through we have an apparent murder and an investigation during the course of which some of the adulteries come to light and cause the participants to examine themselves and their lives closely.Andrew Dovell wrote the subtle, richly attired script, full of penetrating dialogue and an uncompromising veracity, adapting it from his play Speaking in Tongues.
The plot and interaction between characters depends heavily on coincidence, but this isn't a major flaw in a film that really concerns itself with adult behavior patterns.
The classic 'mystery' thread was really only the setting for the several different relationships and couples featured in the film.But having said that, the story itself was gutsy and twisting to keep you guessing till the end, all without the need for non-essential narrative or the need to keep spelling things out.
His character, though shown as an adulterer from the very beginning, captured so many of the current male 'indentities' with great subtlety instead of a stereotyped 'hug session' which most recent films dealing with the subject matter inevitably lead to.
He so easily showed the internal conflicts which most normal Australian men deal with day-to-day while still keeping up the brave face we all do.I also enjoyed the quirky way the relatively small number of characters were all drawn together by fairly consequential links, and without a huge big statement of it in the end - no matter how many people there are on the planet, it still amazes me how small and incestual problem-circles end up becoming :)This film has the potential to appeal to so many different audiences - works as a mystery, cop-drama, "chick flick", and to anyone who could ever relate to the 'feel' of Australia, which the film captures perfectly through great ambient audio and natural-looking lighting.Well written, directed, photographed and cast give this one an easy full marks..
This was certainly a nice surprise coming from Australia, which has given us a great many interesting films and that keeps telling world wide audiences there sure is life after Hollywood and the formula styled fare that has been coming from the La-La Land in the last years.To begin with, the cast is first rate.
There was a lot of audience talking as the story was half-told visually --a particularly neat change from the original play--and the coincidences would be revealed to the audience.This is a sophisticated film for grown-ups that absolutely respects the intelligence of its viewers.
The first hour of the film is based solely on the relationships of its interconnecting characters.We next see Leon (Anthony LaPaglia) having sex with a woman, who we later learn to be Jane (Rachael Blake).
This is the one relationship that is the exception to the film's rule.The subtle hints we're given may or may not be important later on in the story, which after the half-way mark involves a police investigation; and the film manages to remain a drama about its characters throughout.
In one scene between Leon and John (who is a suspect in his wife's disappearance) John admits that he didn't listen to his wife's very real cries for help.By the end of the film, its stance towards marriage becomes, I think, increasingly pessimistic, as if any slight crack in a relationship would mean that both sides are doomed.
Though the film involves a cop, a shrink, a missing woman, infidelity, adultery, grief, suspicion, etc., "Lantana" isn't about any of these things; a fact which is made clear in the end when the final puzzle piece is dropped into place.
Lantana has some nice moments where everything in the film seems to be falling into place (more in terms of its internal logic and aesthetics than in any sense of plot resolution), and it has a modest, documentary quality that captures middle class lifestyle in an interesting and infrequently seen fashion.
In terms of its formal structure it is pursuing the genre of intertwined short stories pioneered by Robert Altman in movies like Nashville and Short Cuts, and most specifically plays out like an Aussie Magnolia, where these intertwined stories continually intersect in coincidental fashion.Unlike Magnolia, however, the movie demonstrates little sense of humor about its use of such coincidence to drive the plot forward; everything seems to be played for melodramatic effect, so that in some respects the tone comes to resemble an American soap opera: bickering families, incestuous affairs, dark secrets that are dying to get out under every roof, all interspersed with long, suffering gazes by the several protagonists.The plot feels over-constructed; the irony is that by tying things up a little too neatly the director suffocates the story with theme, and ultimately creates a film that doesn't seem to mean much of anything.
Altman, who can be credited with, if not inventing this style of filmmaking (perhaps the soap operas, after all, deserve that credit), at least with being the first to exploit it completely, understands that the chaos between the coincidence is a necessary component both in terms of realism, and in its ability to make the meaning seem organic to the situation, rather than imposed by an author.Lantana is an interesting movie, but it isn't a very good one..
Particularly enjoyed the sharp Aussie wit and black humour that flowed with the unfolding of the plot.Antony LaPaglia plays a believable role and as sub plot you see his character change in the space of two hours.All in all a very enjoyable film..
" Lantana" reeks of death, or maybe it just smells like excrement.There is some fine acting and interesting vignettes here in search of a movie.Perhaps a more experienced director might have realized that he needed to find it.
Lantana is ostensibly a mystery-drama about the disappearance of a psychiatrist, Barbara Hersey, that is investigated by a flawed-but-not-bad cop, Anthony LaPaglia.
While I didn't see him as the center of this film (that goes to Hershey's character), I did think that he out shined even the great Geoffrey Rush.
These two tremendous actors stapled the film, while the rest seemed to simply move the plot closer to the ending credits.With such powerful acting, why didn't this movie succeed in my mind?
The 2001 film "Lantana" goes underneath the shrubs and takes a look at the lives of several couples whose lives are intertwined by the disappearance of a psychiatrist, Valerie Somers (Barbara Hershey).
There's a police officer Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia) who is taking dance lessons with his wife Sonja (Kerry Armstrong) and has an affair with another student, Jane (Rachel Blake); Jane's neighbors, with a husband (Manu Bennett) out of work; and the psychiatrist's own dysfunctional marriage to John Knox (Geoffrey Rush) after their daughter is murdered.
My two favorite opposing examples of this are the classic film "San Francisco," where the earthquake happens in the last half hour of the movie, and "Poseidon" where stock characters have a line each before the ship sinks in the first five minutes of the movie."Lantana" is an intriguing film that will keep the audience wondering and guessing - does Valerie suspect her client of an involvement with her husband?
Hershey is effective as a psychiatrist forced to listen to people's problems while disturbed about her own dead marriage, and Rush's frozen face displays no emotion, yet we know he's dying inside.A really fine movie, well worth seeing.
Great acting all around by people who look like the role they are portraying.There are a lot of comments on this site that portray the film as a bore and I attribute that to the deliberate pacing employed.
Unless you have an aversion to character development, understated intrigue and a plot that doesn't spoonfeed you, go and see this film.The acting of the ensemble cast was out of the top drawer: Anthony LaPaglia was a revelation to me (and no, I didn't know he's Australian either), creating a deeply flawed and human policeman; Kerry Armstrong was just perfect as his spouse, champing at the bit to get more passion into her life, and conveying just that quality herself; Geoffrey Rush showed his infinite range - he can be OTT (Quills), damaged (Shine), malevolently powerful (Elizabeth) - here he's almost inscrutable.
This romantic, conversational and atmospheric thriller which is set in Sydney, Australia and where interpersonal relations and personalities are acutely examined and characters as poignant as the stories, is impelled and reinforced by it's cogent narrative structure, subtle character development, enigmatic characters, incorporation of theater in cinema and the reverent acting performances by Australian actors Anthony LaPaglia and Geoffrey Rush, Australian actresses Rachael Blake and Kerry Armstrong and American actress Barbara Hershey.
Although the film involves a murder, the story is more the exploration of a number of interconnected relationships.The film starts with a woman's body lying in a lantana bush, but we don't know who it is until the end.
The story builds up to that point, and centres on a quartet of families starting with Leon Zat (Anthony La Paglia), a police detective, and his wife Sonja (Kerry Armstrong)."Lantana", the title of the film, refers to the noxious weed that grows like crazy and eventually strangles and entangles everything else in the garden - it's the perfect metaphor for the way all the various relationships are being strangled and entangled by infidelity, deception and unhappiness.The structure of the film is similar to Robert Altman's "Short Cuts" where different stories intersect at critical times.Although the film has a sense of mystery, I found "Lantana" just too serious and humourless.
What saves "Lantana" is that everyone plays it low-key - the actors give the movie class.The brilliant Barbara Hershey has competition for attention from two other women: Kerry Armstrong and Rachael Blake.
Kerry Armstrong is one of the most interesting actors in Australian film and television, and she ages beautifully.The film steps up a notch when the mystery kicks in about halfway through, and it becomes partly a police procedural."Lantana" was loved up by the critics and won every Australian film award going at the time it was released.
To some this will be a source of frustration because, for the first half of the film it means that we are unsure where we are meant to be going; it does a good job of developing the characters but I did wonder for what reason or direction.
LaPaglia, Armstrong, Hershey, Rush and Blake all work well together and individually.An interesting film then that works off the back of engaging characters and relationships.
(I wrote this in 2001, and just discovered I posted it for another movie, so I put it here, as it is...)I'm much too shaken for critical distance, but I still feel the urge to tell everybody to see it, unless you're allergic to the genre.The cinematography, while extremely beautiful, never stops from supporting the story.I hope the incredibly dense sound texture of the opening sequence is on the original soundtrack (most of the music is very efficient, though maybe too present some times).The director has given every one of his deeply sad characters a human quality that keeps them from being pathetic, so they're "just" very human.
This drama about flawed relations and unforseen effects of the interactions between the people involved is a great movie - one of the very best, ever.As most very good films it involves a small cast and just a few settings, it has no car chases, no bravado and no guns, but is still one of the most riveting films I've seen.
The main characters are four couples, each with its own problems, and a gay man, who's in love with one of husbands, and two individuals, that at the end of the film meet.Most, if not all , the actors were unknown to me, before I watched this film (Geoffrey Rush and Barbara Hershey being the exceptions), but I must say I capitulate totally!
Ladies and Gentlemen, you're are a very good selection of Australian actors, indeed, and you all acted excellently in every way!The film is based on a play written by Anthony Bovell (who also wrote the script) called Speaking in Tongues, and it shows.
This is a small film, made up of telling moments in peoples' lives and held together by odd connections between the characters' lives, much like those in Robert Altman's Short Cuts, though this story has a tighter weave than anything Altman made.
I've seen other movies about infidelity in different relationships, and the different characters interlocking through their infidelities (I think that's the plot of every Edward Burns' film).
There are loads of fortunate coincidences, but we don't mind because each one resolves a situation or has its resolution later, and changes the destinies of people we grow to like very much.There are some smashing performances, notably from Antony LaPaglia as the brutal but mixed up cop and Kerry Armstrong, magnificent as his tormented wife, who can't figure out why their relationship and her life are falling apart.True life drama.
But what made this film so much better than the average thriller is that the characters were so full bodied and developed that I found myself rooting for all of them--there didn't seem to be any bad guys, just real people caught up in the thorny complexities of real life.
A great film that makes you believe that 2+2 = 5 I thought this was a very interesting idea a plot that gives you all the clues and lets you add them all up if like me you got 2+2 = 5 then you are not alone.Very well played by a cast lead by Anthony LaPaglia, thought most of the cast were very good.I really enjoyed this film a lot it lead me down all the wrong paths in a totally believable way.
The dense plotting, multi-threaded narrative cleverly obscures the fact that Lantana, one of the most overrated Australian films ever made,is just an upmarket soap-opera without the necessary gloss one expects from Aussie films.Anthony La Paglia plays a very unlikeable cop while his long-suffering wife is far more sympathetic - in fact - the only likable character in the movie.
The rest of the cast is a who's who of antipodean cinema - with Geoffrey Rush the least convincing as the husband of Barbara Hershey's character, who is the only American in the cast.Lantana also reminded me of Altman's vastly superior Short Cuts.
There are many characters and interwoven scenarios but even I could guess the twist way before the end.At times, the dull tone of the film made me a little impatient and I felt it created a forced mood of mock-seriousness - it was as if the director was urging his cast to be po-faced and realist in ways that Aussie soap-operas cannot but at least that much-maligned genre does not have pretensions of grandeur.
On top of that, Lawrence masters a tactile sense of fluidity and empathy into the story-line, sublimates an urban mystery into an intoxicating study of love, trust, betrayal, deception and grief, and renders its poignant after-effect anything but fault-finding.Great ensemble consisted of a mostly indigenous cast (Armstrong, Blake and Colosimo all deserve a name-check), LaPaglia returns to his motherland from his usual Hollywood turf and is instigated into an arresting turn easily his career-best, a tough cop compromised by his betrayal out of domestic ennui, not entirely sympathetic but the performance is undeniably visceral.
Granted, it is easy to bill this 2002 Australian drama as a thriller, but those who expect such a film may be disappointed by a relatively slow-burning plot and moderately paced character study.
That said, the supporting characters are quite fascinating too; Kerry Armstrong has a very strong turn as LaPaglia's wife, while Geoffrey Rush and Barbara Hershey hold a lot of interest in how differently they react to their preteen daughter's death.
The film's promotional tagline - "sometimes love isn't enough" - comes from something Rush says about his own marriage, and all of the relationship drama in the film (not only between LaPaglia and Armstrong) seems to revolve around this paradigm in a sense.
I hate it when movies (particularly this one that appeared to take itself seriously)attempt to give us a warm feeling by showing how well everything turned out for most of the characters.LaPaglia was good, he doesn't know how to be otherwise - although his Aussie accent slipped in a couple of places.
What a great Aussie fillum.No imitation Hollywood two-dimensional formula here -- just a good script and an excellent cast creating a contemporary adult drama that touched on a variety of issues in an engaging manner.I think the best thing about Lantana was its measured, low-key understatement.
As a consequence, the characters and the situations they found themselves in were utterly believable -- so much so I wondered which character was most like my own.While holding a mirror to the shortcomings of Aussie men and women, the film is not judgemental and, in the end, offers hope -- if not comfort -- to everyone caught in a patch of lantana.I guess the message is this: Don't go there in the first place -- unless you know the way out.And do any of us?.
The principal cast (including Anthony Lapaglia; Geoffrey Rush; Barbara Hershey; Kerry Armstrong and Rachel Blake) are excellent and believable.If it were not for its Australian Made tag, Lantana is a Best Picture film.
Not only is the film a ripper, but the cast features internationally recognised box office drawcards such as Anthony LaPaglia and Geoffrey Rush, mixing with American guest star Barbara Hershey, to give Lantana real credibility. |
tt0060288 | Deadlier Than the Male | Glamorous assassin Irma Eckman (Elke Sommer), disguised as an air stewardess, kills oil tycoon Henry Keller (Dervis Ward) with a booby-trapped cigar aboard his private jet, parachuting away before the plane explodes. She is picked up by a speedboat driven by her partner in crime, the equally beautiful Penelope (Sylva Koscina). The villainous pair then murder David Wyngarde (John Stone), making it look like a spear fishing accident. Sir John Bledlow (Laurence Naismith), one of the directors of Phoenecian Oil, suspects that both deaths were the result of foul play; he had received an urgent message from Wyngarde that he needed to get in touch with Keller regarding a "matter of life and death". He asks Wyngarde's friend, Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond (Richard Johnson), to investigate.
A representative of an unknown party had approached Phoenecian and offered to overcome Keller's opposition to a merger with Phoenician within six months for one million pounds. Irma shows up at a board meeting to collect. However, the board is divided - with Henry Bridgenorth (Leonard Rossiter) being the most vocal in opposition - and the vote is five to four against paying. That night, Irma and Penelope visit Bridgenorth at his apartment, with fatal results. When the board reconvenes, the directors vote unanimously to pay.
Carloggio (George Pastell), Wyngarde's servant, delivers a tiny bit of a taped message Wyngarde had recorded. Only part of one sentence remains (the assassins stole the rest). Irma and Penelope silence Carloggio, then Penelope delivers a box of deadly cigars to Drummond's flat while he is out. Brenda (Virginia North), a girl Drummond's nephew Robert (Steve Carlson) has brought back to the flat, narrowly escapes the same fate as Keller. Later that night, another attempt is made on Drummond's life.
The next day, Irma makes Phoenecian another proposition: to get them the oil concession in the country of Akmata, despite the King's determination to develop the oil fields himself, for another million pounds. Drummond realises that the King's assassination is what the garbled tape was referring to. Meanwhile, Penelope abducts and tortures Robert, but he can tell her nothing. Drummond follows Irma back to their flat and is able to rescue Robert before he is blown up by a bomb left behind by the two women. He is then astonished to discover that Robert is an old college friend of the Akmatan King Fedra (Zia Mohyeddin).
Irma does away with Weston (Nigel Green), another Phoenecian board member. Drummond travels to the Mediterranean coast. After meeting and warning King Fedra, he is invited to a castle owned by the wealthy Carl Petersen, the genius behind the assassinations. It turns out that Petersen is none other than Weston. Drummond is not allowed to leave the castle. Grace (Suzanna Leigh), one of Petersen's women, confides her desire to leave to Drummond, but Petersen is watching and listening electronically. Irma attempts to seduce Drummond to distract him, but to her fury, he rejects her advances. Penelope is more successful and spends the night in Drummond's bed.
Petersen gives Grace a "second chance"; she uses the opportunity to board the King's yacht as soon as she has the chance, just as Petersen had planned. While playing chess against Petersen with giant motorized pieces, Drummond learns that Grace is unwittingly carrying the bomb intended for the King. He kills Petersen's bodyguard Chang (Milton Reid) and drops Petersen into the hole through which a chess piece is removed from play.
Drummond and Robert race to the King's yacht, capturing Irma and Penelope along the way, and bringing them along. When Irma and Penelope refuse to tell him where the bomb is hidden, Drummond searches Grace for the explosive, finally stripping her naked and throwing her overboard. When the guard holding Irma and Penelope at gunpoint is distracted by this, the pair escape. As they race away in a speedboat, Irma reveals that the bomb is in Grace's hairclip. Penelope is aghast; having envied Grace's chignon, she stole it and is wearing it. The two assassins are killed when it explodes. Meanwhile, Drummond and Robert dive into the sea to rescue Grace. | cult, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt4122886 | Day One | When Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard leaves Europe he eventually arrives in the United States where, with the help of Albert Einstein, he persuades the Federal government to build an atomic bomb. General Leslie Groves selects physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to head the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico, where the bomb is built. As World War II draws to a close, Szilard (whose idea was responsible for the progress made) has second thoughts about atomic weapons and debates how and when to use the bomb.
The film focuses on the organization and the politics of the whole affair, such as tensions between the scientists and the military, the communist affiliation of many scientists around that time, the (perceived) risks of espionage and the decision whether to use the bomb after Germany is defeated. Concerning the actual scientific work on the bomb, some of it is shown, but not explained, so an understanding of the workings of the bomb is needed to understand what is going on in that respect.
The story starts with Leo Szilard fleeing Germany on the last train out and trying to convince the military that a nuclear bomb can be built and that the Germans are already working on it. In England, his idea is filed and ignored, so he travels to the USA, but there too, he has to wait a year until something is done with it and Project Manhattan is started.
As Germany is being defeated and its scientists interrogated, it is found out that they have not even come close to constructing a nuclear bomb (partly due to bad cooperation by scientists). Despite the fact that no one has the technology now, and the original reason for project Manhattan is gone, work continues. Szilard, who first used Einstein to get his ideas about building a bomb across to the US leaders, now convinces him to join him in writing a letter to the president to do the opposite, namely not to build the bomb, in order to avoid an arms race. 68 scientists sign a petition, but that is held back by the military.
U.S. President Truman is faced with four options: peace talks (which would not have worked because the US did not want the Japanese to keep their emperor), a blockade (which was thought to be cowardly), an invasion (which could cost from 20,000 to a million lives), or dropping the bomb. Another consideration is that the USSR had said they would enter the war against Japan three months after the surrender of Germany and there is a fear that they might not leave. So Truman decides that the best course of action is to drop the bomb on Hiroshima, against the advice of General Eisenhower. | suspenseful | train | wikipedia | Hard to Watch but Impressive Short.
Day One (2015) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Of all the live action Oscar nominated shorts this one here from Henry Hughes is certainly the most unpleasant.
It deals with a woman named Feda (Layla Alizada) who is on her first tour in Afghanistan working as an interpreter.
She ends up at the home of a bomb maker where she's just expecting to translate but soon the man's pregnant wife goes into labor.DAY ONE is a fairly grim and graphic tale that could have very well gone down the road of exploitation and been one of the more disgusting entries in that genre.
However, it doesn't go down that path and instead turns into a pretty frank and brutal character study as we get to see various obstacles this woman goes through on her first day on the job.
What really helps the movie are the terrific performance by the entire cast.
It's certainly not a very easy film to watch but it really pays off in the end..
Very unpleasant but well done....
This film was definitely the most difficult to watch of all the nominees for Best Live-Action Short.
It's quite timely and very well done but I noticed a lot of folks cringing and reacting viscerally to this film.
The fact that it made such a big impact is a good thing...but some will find this all a bit unpleasant.The story is set in what you assume is Afghanistan--though I don't recall the film even mentioning where the American soldiers were stationed in that general area.
A new female interpreter has just arrived and is about to go on her first assignment.
Unfortunately, this first encounter will clearly be among the most traumatic and difficult of her military career.
This is because not only is one of the men killed by some sort of explosion but subsequently they come upon a family and the wife is dying because of a very, very complicated pregnancy.
So not only will the interpreter have to interpret but because of the Muslim culture, the men in the group are not allowed to see the woman in labor.
But it's a very, very bad labor and the interpreter cannot imagine anything good coming out of this...and she's probably right.
It's going to be a horrible day.As I said above, this is a very traumatic film and one I would not want younger viewers to see.
I could say more but you'd just have to see it for yourself to know what I mean.
The film is not gratuitous in its violence but it's a situation that is bleak and depressing...but also exceptionally well made and one of the most unusual shorts I've ever seen.UPDATE: "Stutterer" took the Oscar for Best Live Action Short..
Unbelievably wonderful!.
This is perhaps the best short film that I have ever seen.
Great script, incredible acting, and simply (a must see gem)!
I have watched thousands of hours of supposedly "great" films, and have never seen anything so well crafted, emotionally involving, and fundamentally human as this.
It is simply "the best of the best"!.
I wonder if she showed up for Day Two!.
"Day One" (USA, 20 min.) – In Afghanistan, a young female interpreter experiences an especially dramatic first day on the job working with U.S. soldiers.
She starts off on the wrong foot by using the shower at the wrong time, then struggles to understand the expectations and procedures of her new environment.
On her first mission with the squad to which she is assigned, she delays their march when she has to stop to urinate, she's almost killed by an IED, she has to translate during a heated exchange between her squad's leader and an Afghan man who is a suspected insurgent and then she is forced to help the man's pregnant wife when she suddenly goes into labor and the first part of the baby to emerge is its arm.
Written and directed by a former U.S. Army paratrooper as a tribute to one of his unit's former interpreters, this is a personal and powerful look at the challenges of modern warfare.
Get comfortable being uncomfortable.
Co-writer and director Henry Hughes realized his filmmaking dream after his two tours of duty in Afghanistan, and with a little assistance from Star Wars creator George Lucas, crafted his pipe-dream of a short film into a reality with a potential for an Oscar.
The result is Day One, a mostly effective short film revolving around an interpreter for the United States Army, who is put in the compromising position when she is forced to deliver a baby for an enemy bombmaker's wife.
The baby's position has shifted in the mother's uterus, to the point where its hand is sticking out of the mother's crotch without any discernible pulse.
The only option, as told by the doctor, is to cut the baby's arm off and extract its corpse piece-by-piece.The horrifying bloodbath races through the mind of the woman (Layla Alizada), who never believed she'd have to do anything close to this.
Time is running out, the mother is in excruciating pain, and dread and uncertainty looms over the household like a gray cloud.For the first half of its twenty-five minute runtime, Hughes prefers to capture the situation in a way that's largely naturalistic; one that emphasizes ambient noise and appropriate sounds of the location rather than mawkish music.
However, but the third act, the short slowly devolves into incredulous territory, where the impossible becomes the possible and the conflict at hand is solved all too easily.
The circumstance that was potentially catastrophic a moment ago has turned into optimism ripe for emotional exploitation and the short concludes down a path I was crossing my fingers it wouldn't take the whole time.Still, Day One is worth it for the strong performance by Alizada, who manages to command the screen pretty admirably throughout the entire film, and Hughes really knows how to craft an unforgivably tense environment.
With that, Day One seems like its inching towards greatness only to hesitantly back off in favor of a safer route most people would find easier to swallow..
Fails to succeed in one core component and that's the negative deal breaker.
"Day One" is an American 25-minute short film from 2015.
It was directed and co-written by Henry Hughes and he scored his first Oscar nomination for that.
Actually, it is only his second work and second short film as a director, so quite a success I guess.
The film is partially in the English language and also in Dari, so you may want a good set of subtitles.
This is the tale of an interpreter who faces the most unusual first day at work in her new profession.
The plot already summarizes it.
She and her unit of soldiers meet a group of enemies, possibly terrorists.
They may have bombs with them.
A women of the enemy group is pregnant, on the verge of giving birth.
The interpreter has to help her with giving birth.
The child is presumed dead.
Apparently there is no heartbeat.
Then the child is suddenly alive, but another character is suddenly dead.
And let us keep in mind: This is only the very first day of her work.
So realism is a crucial component or I should maybe say the lack of realism unfortunately and this is what eventually destroys the movie.
At some point it felt just like one dramatic scene chasing the next, so it all was very much for the sake of it and the authenticity was kinda gone.
Lets be honest here: The action would even be over-the-top for a 90-minute film, let alone for a film under 30 minutes.
Overall, I don't think this is a bad film.
it has its moments and strengths, like the atmosphere or the contemporary relevance and others, so I am still a bit curious about Hughes' future works.
But this one here has weaknesses that should have kept it from getting recognition at any awards body, especially the Oscars.
I don't recommend the watch. |
tt0226243 | Omikron: The Nomad Soul | === Setting ===
Omikron: The Nomad Soul is set in a futuristic city known as Omikron, which is a densely populated metropolis on the world of Phaenon, the second planet of the star Rad'an. At the start of the game, players are asked by an Omikronian police officer named Kay'l 669 to leave their dimension and enter Omikron within his body (thereby breaking the fourth wall). After doing so, players continue with the investigation of serial killings that Kay'l and his partner Den were originally working on, attempting to pick up where Kay'l was apparently stopped from investigating. The city of Omikron exists beneath an enormous crystal dome, which was constructed to protect against the ice age that Phaenon entered into after its sun's extinction. The city is split into different sectors: Anekbah, Qalisar, Jaunpur, Jahangir and Lahoreh. Because it is forbidden for the inhabitants to leave their respective sectors, each area has developed uniquely, which is reflected by the diverging lifestyles and architecture. Common to all Omikronians, however, is the heavily oppressive and controlling government, which is run by a supercomputer called Ix.
=== Plot ===
Soon after the beginning of the game's introduction, the player begins the investigation in the Anekbah sector. He uncovers information that suggests the serial killer he is looking for is in fact not human but actually a demon. When members of an apparent underground, anti-government movement contact the player and confirm his suspicions, the investigation deepens and uncovers information; one of Omikron's chief police commanders, Commandant Gandhar, is a demon pretending to be human and lures human souls into Omikron from other dimensions by way of the Omikron video game. Kay'l 669 asking the player to help him was a trap: supposedly, if the in-game character dies, the real human playing the video game will lose their soul forever. Despite many assassination attempts on the protagonist's life by other demons working behind the scenes, the player destroys Gandhar with supernatural weaponry.
After this brief victory, the player is invited to join the mysterious anti-government movement named "The Awakened" (referring to the fact the characters have "awakened" from the lies and drugs of the government). The Awakened work in tandem with an ancient religious order who are led by Boz, a mystical being that exists in purely electronic form on the computer networks of Omikron. The Awakened refer to the protagonist as the "Nomad Soul" since he has the ability to change bodies at will. The Nomad Soul learns afterwards that what is going on in Omikron is merely an extension of a thousands-of-years-old battle between mankind and demons led by the powerful Astaroth. Astaroth, who was banished to the depths of Omikron long ago, is slowly regenerating power while using demons to both collect souls and impersonate high members of the government; he believes he can eventually take complete control and move across Phaenon and the Universe beyond. Only by harnessing ancient, magical technology and by re-discovering several hidden tombs underneath Omikron's surface, can the Nomad Soul hope to discover how to destroy Astaroth, return to his own dimension, and prevent his soul from being captured by demons.
=== Characters ===
The starting character of Omikron is Kay'l, a detective with amnesia. He later gets killed when leaving the first city. | sci-fi | train | wikipedia | Okay so maybe I am just biased by my unending adoration for David Bowie but I am also a big fan of great games and this is one.
Interesting plot to this RPG that is not overdone.
The music and scenarios are unique from every other game I have played.
Lovely :).
Awesome game, here's why.
Omikron: The Nomad Soul will always be special to me.
I got it when it was about 3 years old so I payed only a few bucks for it.
I didn't expect that much from the game but I got a lot more than I expected.
To my surprise the role you play in this game is the role of *you*.
You are somebody playing Omikron.
Not some super hero on a screen, you are you.
Without going into further details, this changes the whole point of view and makes this game as realistic as it gets.
Another thing about this great game is that it doesn't fit just one genre.
There is role-playing, puzzling, 3rd and 1st person shooting, racing and even Tekken style fighting!
Another nice thing in this game is David Bowie.
He arranged the soundtrack for this game and even has a role in it.
The soundtrack is very similar to Bowies album called "Hours...".
All these things together made this a game I really loved to play and made quite an impression.
Now this game is old and probably nobody will ever play it again and that's a shame.
But that's the way things go with video-games....
That damn good!.
This game is in a very real sense, very good.
You are the Nomad Soul - a disembodied spirit in a hostile world.
You must possess the inhabitants and use their bodies in order to free the world of Omnikron from its demonic overlord.
During your (third person perspective) adventure, you will encounter 3d fighting sections, 1st person shooting areas, and concerts by David Bowie himself in seedy nightclubs!.
A better place to be,....
If I ever had the chance to choose a place to be,..
Omikron would be my first choice,...
However, the game has only one ending, it still has a nice story.
Somehow, I feel that my soul is still left alone in Omikron,...
My life may seem lonely,..
but I like it in Omikron,..
We all have demons...
We all have demons...
but some of us, haven't seen them yet.
--- The envelope changes, but the contents remains the same.
- Jenna, The Awakened, Omikron..
Omikron: please kill me edition.
Omikron is one of the worst...things, I have ever experienced.
No amount of preparation can help you with the amount of abuse you'll experience playing this wretched pile.
The story is a quarter baked collection of poor ideas, ridiculous moments, laughably bad plot twists, and David Cage ripping off movies like Blade Runner and They Live in order to sell a tale of demons living among society and enslaving humanity while a chosen one aka you (The now stupidly named Nomad Soul) must now play the game and defeat the demons and their overlord Astaroth.
Now to be honest this seemed like a neat idea at first, too bad its been done before in other adventure games and a hell of a lot better with characters you'll actually care about.
The actual game-play can be summed up like this, what do you get when you mix a bad open-world adventure game, with a bad 3d fighting game, and a bad first person shooter, the answer is this pile of crap.
The fighting plays like Tekken, if Tekken were programmed by people undergoing lobotomy and tested by a 12 year old drunk on grandpas whiskey, the only way to win is to constantly spam the same kick combo over and over again without stopping and even then you only have 1/4th of a chance of winning.
The FPS sections are a stiff frustrating mess that are near impossible to aim properly while your enemies all have pinpoint accuracy, imagine Doom but with absolutely no sense of weight, inability to move fast and the least sensitive aiming controls you've ever felt.
The open world is arguably the worst part, the environments are all bland futuristic cities that we've all seen in every science fiction movie ever made, there's a body snatching/switching mechanic in the game but its broken beyond belief because sometimes you'll be forced to switch into a much weaker body to progress in the story only to meet a demon you have to fight, but now you have much less health and you do poor damage.
Oh and more than likely you wont be able to switch back because the other body will be in an area blocked off due to story.
All and all I've played worse games, but not many.
Omikron sticks to your soul in the worst way possible, constantly reminding you that the creator of this game still makes games.
Oh and David Bowie is in the game for like..I dunno a minute?
who cares. |
tt0272020 | The Last Castle | Lieutenant General Eugene Irwin (Robert Redford) is brought to a maximum security military prison to begin a ten-year sentence for his decision (in violation of a presidential order) to send U.S. troops on a mission in Burundi, resulting in the deaths of eight soldiers. Colonel Winter (James Gandolfini), the prison's commandant, is a great admirer of the general but is offended by a comment he overhears: Irwin criticizes Winter's much-prized military artifacts collection, calling it something no actual battlefield veteran would ever have.
Winter, who has never seen combat, resents the remark. He then takes exception to what he perceives as Irwin's attempt to change the attitudes of the prisoners, his admiration for Irwin fading fast. On one occasion, Irwin is punished harshly after stopping a guard from clubbing a prisoner, Corporal Ramon Aguilar (Clifton Collins, Jr.), who had made the mistake of saluting Irwin in the prison yard.
Continuing to observe acts of cruelty, Irwin attempts to unify the prisoners by building a "castle wall" of stone and mortar at the facility, which in many ways resembles a medieval castle. Envying the respect Irwin is clearly receiving, Winter orders his guards to destroy the wall. Aguilar, directly involved in its construction, takes a stand before the bulldozer. Winter orders a sharpshooter with a coded hand gesture to fire a normally non-lethal rubber bullet directly at Aguilar's head, killing him.
After the wall is destroyed, Irwin and the inmates pay final respects to Aguilar in formation. Winter later tries to make amends with Irwin, who calls him a disgrace to the uniform and demands his resignation.
The prisoners begin to behave like soldiers around Irwin, using code words and gestures, infuriating the commandant. Winter reaches out to an anti-social prisoner named Yates (Mark Ruffalo), a former officer and Apache helicopter pilot convicted of running a drug-smuggling ring. Yates is bribed to inform about Irwin's plans in exchange for a reduced sentence.
Irwin organizes a plot to throw the prison into chaos. His intent is to show a friend, Brigadier General Wheeler (Delroy Lindo), the commandant's superior officer, that the commandant is unfit and should be removed from command under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. During a visit, Winter receives a letter threatening the kidnapping of General Wheeler by the prisoners. After ordering his men into action, Winter discovers that the scheme was a fake orchestrated by Irwin to detect how prison guards would react during an actual uprising.
Yates steals a U.S. flag from the warden's office and seizes a helicopter used by guards.
Using improvised weapons the prisoners capture an armored vehicle and the helicopter. The prisoners place a call to Wheeler's headquarters and inform him of the riot. Winter has little time to regain control before Wheeler will arrive to see the prison under siege, so orders the use of live ammunition against the prisoners.
Winter knows from Yates that Irwin's ultimate goal is to raise the American flag upside down, a classic signal of distress. Irwin's men create havoc but ultimately are confronted by overwhelming numbers of guards, armed with live ammunition. Irwin orders the prisoners to stand down and elects to personally hoist the flag. Winter shoots Irwin, fatally.
Peretz places the Colonel under arrest for the shooting of Irwin. The prisoners salute the flag and Winter now sees that Irwin has actually raised the flag in the correct manner. It flies above the prison's walls as General Wheeler arrives. Colonel Winter is led away in handcuffs. The inmates build a new wall as memorial to their fallen comrades. Aguilar and Irwin's names are among those carved onto the castle's wall. | violence, murder, sadist | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0061015 | Spinout | Mike McCoy (Elvis), the lead singer for a traveling band who is also a part-time race car driver, enjoys his carefree single life, which is threatened by three different women who seek to marry him.
Enter Cynthia Foxhugh (Shelley Fabares), a spoiled heiress and "daddy's girl", who is determined to get what she wants, no matter the cost. Such as was the case when Cynthia's millionaire father Howard (Carl Betz) tricks Mike and his band into interrupting their gig tour to serenade Cynthia with "Am I Ready" for her birthday. Cynthia becomes first of the three women who want to marry Mike. Also, apparently knowing about Mike's racing skills, Howard is determined to hire Mike to drive Howard's Fox Five car in an upcoming road race, but Mike prefers to race his own car, a Cobra 427 sports car, which is towed around the country by a 1929 Model J Duesenberg.
Meanwhile, Mike is stalked and spied upon by Diana St. Clair (Diane McBain), an author of books for women about men. Diana is in the process of writing her new book, The Perfect American Male, and uses Mike as one of her subjects. Actually, she later reveals to Mike that he is the "perfect American male", thereby planning on Mike to marry her—to the point of already making wedding arrangements.
The female drummer of Mike's band, Les (Deborah Walley), is looked upon by Mike and the other band members as a tomboy, and becomes fed up with such treatment. Mike and his other band members are taken aback when at a party, Les picks her moment and reveals her true feminine side, walking back out from a room dressed up in an evening dress. She reveals herself as the third woman who wishes to marry Mike.
Faced with this predicament, Mike must decide which of the three women he will marry—after the race (which Mike wins in a car he does not even own). So, he decides to marry all three of them—to other men. Mike marries Cynthia to Phillip (Warren Berlinger), a nervous employee of Howard's who is prone to fainting (he had a secret crush on Cynthia since he has known her, which he finally picks up the nerve to tell her). Next, Mike marries Diana to Howard, who fell in love with each other after they met at one of Mike's parties. And finally, Mike marries Les to Lt. Tracy Richards (Will Hutchins), a police officer whom Les won her way to his heart through his stomach (he likes her gourmet cooking). This allows Mike to reclaim his single and carefree life, which he dearly enjoys. | romantic | train | wikipedia | Elvis Presley spent most of the 1960s making fluffy lightweight romantic comedies with music, all constructed on a studio assembly line during the waning days of the old Hollywood studio system.
Having said that, some of these films were more tolerable than others.SPINOUT, made at MGM, is one of the most entertaining thanks to its teaming of Elvis with three colorful and delightful leading ladies, all of whom more than hold their own with their charismatic leading man.
Deborah Walley plays the tomboyish redhead drummer in Elvis' band and has a secret crush on him; Diane McBain plays a sexually voracious best-selling author on the hunt for the perfect American male; and Shelley Fabares plays the heiress of an auto fortune who thinks she's entitled to whatever she wants and whose father wants Elvis to race a car for him.
Fortunately, the film's racing angle is downplayed in favor of comic situations and a set of enjoyable songs.The supporting players deserve singling out, including Jack Mullaney as Elvis' comical bandmate; Carl Betz as Shelley's father (a role he played with Shelley on "The Donna Reed Show" as well); Warren Berlinger as Betz's loyal assistant; TV cowboy Will Hutchins as a highway cop with a penchant for gourmet cooking; and Hollywood veterans Cecil Kellaway and Una Merkel as an elderly rich couple who allow Elvis and his band to take over their house when they go on vacation.
This movie was released in a year that wasn't a particularly good one for Elvis Presley but it's still, in my opinion, an excellent film.
Elvis Presley plays Mike McCoy, the leader of a small time combo on the road.
Millionaire Howard Foxhugh played by Carl Betz wants McCoy to sing solo for his daughter's birthday.
This is not one of Elvis' best or most memorable films, but it is pretty good.
For one thing, we get to see Elvis in his most suitable film role, as a racecar driver caught up with multiple ladies (seen that before?
Fabares is always a good match for Elvis, and here as a scheming heiress she is virtually his film nemesis.
This wasn't shown in time for the 30th anniversary from Elvis Presley's passing, but it did turn up on TCM UK some time later; still, it took me this long to watch and, as a matter of fact, only opted to check the film out alongside two contemporary vehicles by fellow singers Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin – that said, it can't really compare with them!It's the second of three Presley titles with a racing milieu, though this element isn't as much to the fore here as in the others; conveniently, he doubles as a swooning singer/guitarist with a band – and most of the running-time sees him dodging a couple of marriage proposals from eminent figures in the community!
It transpires that even the tomboyish female drummer in his outfit secretly pines for him…but, given the film's jejeune nature, everything is neatly sorted out by the end – as a writer researching The Perfect Male eventually hitches up with Presley's proposed racing employer (played by a U.S. TV stalwart who was completely unknown to me but is a real dead ringer for Darren McGavin!), the latter's young daughter (Shelley Fabares, from the star's earlier vehicle GIRL HAPPY [1965]) realizes she loves her father's goofy secretary after all, and the drummer (who's something of a gourmet) finds a like-minded soulmate in, of all things, a highway policeman!
Not that it matters much given their thankless roles but two veteran character actors from Hollywood's Golden Age - Cecil Kellaway and Una Merkel - also appear in this film.
The songs aren't exactly memorable either and, while the film's certainly harmless in itself, it's also not engaging enough to warrant more than a cursory viewing (I, for one, was greatly surprised to learn that it was co-scripted by Theodore J.
Rich girl Shelley Fabares, Jacqueline Susann like author Diane McBain, and the drummer in the King's own group, Deborah Walley who is a gourmet cook on the side.As usual Colonel Tom Parker got quality help for his boy behind and in front of the camera.
Such movie veterans as Frederic Worlock and Cecil Kellaway have small roles and this is the farewell big screen appearance of Una Merkel.
Also in the cast is Carl Betz once again playing Shelley Fabares father as he did on the Donna Reed Show.
Will Hutchins, television's Sugarfoot is also around as a policeman who appreciates good cooking and Jack Mullaney and Jimmy Hawkins are the other members of Elvis's group.
Note that they play electric guitars or simulate playing them while Elvis sticks with a regular model.Of course Spinout ends with the Big Race and I don't think I have to tell you who wins, but the race itself is 3/4 of the fun.
Many people (like myself) who have never bothered to watch them through.Yes, it is true that many of these movies would never have been made (or watched) if Elvis wasn't in them.
Elvis' movies may not have been Oscar material, but many of them, including "Spinout" are a nice escape from reality.
The songs are good, at work I think about them time-to-time, and the movies are fun.
Elvis juggles a career as singer/race car driver in this typical but harmless '60s Presley vehicle.
Looking more pudgy than usual, he is an unmarrying kind of guy contending with the attentions of three beautiful women.Shelley Fabares is one delicious cutie I could stare at all day long, and Diane McBain exudes sophisticated beauty.
But putting up with the over-animated antics of Deborah Walley as Presley's jealous tomboy drummer wears on my nerves.This one's got a ton of Elvis songs, none of which are great but range from pretty good ("Spinout" "All That I Am") to unbearable ("Beach Shack", "Smorgasbord")..
Harry Medved listed it among the movies in his "Fifty Worst Movies" book, though it isn't that bad--though it certainly wasn't very good either.In SPINOUT, we find Elvis as a struggling rock 'n roll star AND champion race car driver!
Unlike the real life Elvis, his character shuns glamor and glitz and travels with his three musicians--camping out and living a bohemian life while STILL managing to have clean clothes, multiple wardrobes, gourmet meals, a race car and a 1929 Duesenberg!
Their "camping out" was pure hooey and the camp sites bore an amazing similarity to the sound stage.Well, because he can sing and drive fast cars and is Elvis, it's not surprising that he's pursued by some hot ladies.
Considering how beautiful these ladies were in the film AND how much Elvis avoided them and preferred to hang out with the guys, I really think some might watch this film and wonder if his character was supposed to be gay.
However, what was not entertaining were the many songs Elvis sang as well as the "kooky" race at the end of the film.
As for the songs, Elvis does have a lovely voice but every one of the 1,893 songs he sings in the film is completely forgettable and insipid.
Well, Elvis is pleasant in a plastic sort of way and the ladies quite lovely (particularly the radiant Ms. Fabares) and it was nice to see Una Merkel, Cecil Kellaway and a 1929 Duesenberg.
The few good things are the women - cute Dodie Marshall (who made two Elvis films), Diane McBain (Claudelle English), Deborah Walley, and Shelley Fabares who always lights up the screen.
Carl Betz who played Fabares' Dad on The Donna Reed Show on TV is also in it.A 2 out of 10.
Best performance = Dodie Marshall (what ever happened to her?) Bad songs, bad race car jokes and meandering "NON-PLOT" puts this in a category of it's own.
to the frames: great to watch under rated Debbie Waley as the girl drummer and the sensuous Shelly Fabares (like Elvis) playing a not very hip 20 year old.there's even a real Duesenberg on hand....great performance....sorry yes we have CArl Betz , Shelly's real TV Father from the Donna Reed show, playing her Dad here.
Spinout (1966) ** (out of 4) Mindless but sometimes fun film about a stockcar driver (Elvis) who must choose between marrying a rich girl (Shelley Fabares) or driving her mean father's car in a big race, which could get him a lot of money.
Elvis sings nine songs in this movie and they're actually all pretty bad and they make for the worst part of the film.
The movie story once again features Elvis involved and having trouble with various women but it plays out okay with a nice ending but the real fun comes from all the racing footage, which certainly looks fake but it's still fun.
Elvis Sings & Drives Race Cars.
In this Elvis outing not only does he sing lead in a band, but he also drives race cars!Two ladies are out walk down the aisle with Elvis, which one will win him over?
Or will Elvis win the race and avoid the marriages?Cute, but at some point all the Elvis movies seem like a carousel.
In this film, Elvis "does battle" with Shelley Fabares (again) and two other women who are determined to marry him.
His bandmates want him to stay single so that their band will remain intact.The film includes fast cars, of course, and some of them are impressive, but the big road race scene feels like a cartoon.Carl Betz, who plays Shelley Fabares' father in "The Donna Reed Show" from 1958-1966, plays her father in this film as well.Sometimes I cringe when films include those scenes on the beach or around the pool where bunches of bikini-clad girls go-go dance, but it did not bother me in this film.
Band singer/race driver Mike McCoy (Elvis Presley) must choose between marrying a beautiful rich girl and driving her father's car in a prestigious race.The script was written by Theodore Flicker and George Kirgo.
Working titles included "Never Say No", "Never Say Yes", and "The Singing Racing Car Driver".
He embarked on a film career consisting of 33 films from 1956 to 1969, films that did well at the box-office but mostly panned critically (especially his later films) and while he was a highly charismatic performer he was never considered a great actor.As far as Elvis films go, 'Spinout' belongs in neither extreme of best or worst.
It's average fare that serves as a serviceable enough one-time watch, but not particularly distinguished and one for completests intent on checking out all of Elvis' films (like me).
It's no 'King Creole', 'Flaming Star', 'Jailhouse Rock', 'Viva Las Vegas' and 'Loving You', but it is far better than 'Kissin' Cousins', 'Frankie & Johnny', 'Paradise Hawaiian Style' and particularly 'Harum Scarum' as well as his later efforts.'Spinout' benefits in particular from the climactic big race, an incredibly fun scene that is the most energetic everything gets, and a generally polished supporting cast (with Shelley Fabares, Diane McBain, Dodie Marshall and Carl Betz lighting up the screen and Cecil Kellaway and Una Merkel nearly stealing the show).It is a decent looking film, there are better-looking Elvis films but it is a long way from cheap apart from the racing footage looking artificial but the photography and sets are fine.
The soundtrack is generally unimpressive (though there are far worse Elvis film soundtracks), but there are a few standouts, such as the title song, "I'll Be Back" and "All That I Am".
Usually a hit and miss director, Norman Taurog gives some of his most enthusiastic directing of his numerous collaborations with Elvis.However, there are exceptions with the supporting cast and they are Jack Mullaney and Deborah Walley, both very annoying in roles written in a way that grates on the nerves fast.
Most of the soundtrack is forgettable at best, with "Beach Shack" and "Smorgasbord" being disposable songs that one can easily do without.Regarding Elvis himself, he has certainly been far more disengaged before and since but he has also been much more enthusiastic and it was like he didn't trust the material.
Elvis Presley's 22nd film (from the year England won the World Cup!!) is far from one of his best, although at least he had restored his good look, looking slimmer and fresher than in a few of his previous films from "Paradise, Hawaiian Style".
It's ruined, in truth, by an annoying support cast consisting of three of Elvis (Mike McCoy)' bandmates (the two guys are terrible actors) who fake - badly - their playing of instruments.
Irritated by spoilt Cynthia (Shelley Fabaras) who gets her millionaire father to force Mike into performing a song for her for her birthday AFTER she's already ran him off the road at the start of the film.
The highlight of the film is a race at the end of it, that pits Elvis in a clunker substitute car after having his own race car stolen by another annoying supporting cast member - the millionaires butler - and the millionaire himself in his new "supercar" the 'Fox 5'...despite starting about 10 minutes behind everybody else, Mike catches the field...and of course takes the chequered flag first...right at the end.
Released in 1966, "Spinout" was Elvis' 22nd movie.
"Roustabout" (1964) is my favorite simply because it has the most compelling story, and the story – including the way it's told – is the most important part of a movie in my book.In "Spinout" Elvis plays Mike McCoy, a singer/guitarist of a band that lives like well-to-do gypsies, living a nomadic life in tents.
In this case there are three who desperately want to marry him: the tomboy drummer of his band (Deborah Walley), a spoiled heiress (Shelley Fabares) and a woman writing a book on him (Diane McBain).
Carl Betz plays the heiress' rich father who wants McCoy to drive his fancy new racecar, but also to stay away from his daughter.
One quick example from "Spinout": McCoy (Elvis) wants to temporarily move into the mansion next door to the heiress and her rich dad so he charms the elderly neighbors and convinces them to immediately go on a second honeymoon while he and his bandmates – perfect strangers – stay at their mansion.
Elvis is Mike, a racer/singer/gypsy living free soul who impresses a spoiled rich girl (Fabares) and her dad (Betz), who desperately wants Mike to race his car and NOT marry his daughter.
Along for the ride is an author (McBain) who also wants to marry Mike and a tomboy drummer in his band (Walley) who's quite obviously vying for his affections.
But as far as Elvis's later flicks go; "Spinout" rates pretty high..
Elvis Presley as a rock 'n roll crooner playing clubs with his goofy musical trio (two men and drummer Deborah Walley, who dresses like a man for no particular reason); he attracts the attention of a wealthy man's daughter who schemes to keep Presley in town--to drive her father's car in an auto-race AND possibly walk her down the aisle!
Walley adds some bounce, but Shelley Fabares gets a thankless role.
Elvis Presley is an out-of-shape rock 'n' roll singer who digs girls and race cars.
Best of the women is Shelley Fabares, the spoiled rich girl interested in Elvis.
She, and the man who plays her father (Carl Betz) were both on "The Donna Reed Show".
Ms. Fabares, Mr. Betz and flunkie Warren Berlinger are more entertaining than the others.Presley's good "Spinout" songs are not presented well, visually; the film attempts to hide his overweight status, with varying success.
** Spinout (10/17/66) Norman Taurog ~ Elvis Presley, Shelley Fabares, Diane McBain, Deborah Walley.
I was expecting a movie similar to Speedway, another film where Elvis is a race car driver.
Surprisingly, the fact that Elvis was a race car driver really didn't have that much to do with the movie except at the end.
The movie had some good quotes, but the music wasn't all that good, although I love the song "All That I Am".
The acting in the movie wasn't the greatest I've seen, but who watches an Elvis movie expecting Oscar grade performances?
As for the rest, Well its just typical Elvis stuff, if you've seen Girl Happy or Roustabout or any of the rest then just fast forward to the car scenes..
Presley plays the lead singer of a band that includes Hawkins, Mullaney and girl drummer Walley.
When millionaire Betz decides he wishes Presley to not only sing for his daughter Fabares' birthday, but also to drive his car in an upcoming race, a battle of wills begins which results in Presley living next door to Betz and playing cat and mouse with him and his daughter.
Betz (who had played Fabares father in a far different way for years on "The Donna Reed Show") isn't particularly challenged in his role, but lends solid support.
Fabares made three Elvis films in all..
Another Wonderful pairing of Elvis and the Lovely Shelley Fabares.
This is one of my favorite Elvis films because of the humor, the cast, and the music.
Elvis plays Mike Mccoy, a singer and race car driver.
it also includes Jimmy Hawkins(my favorite male Elvis co-star), Jack Mullaney(comic relief) and Deborah Walley.
Shelley Fabares is one of the three women after Elvis in the film.
She plays the spoiled rich girl Cynthia beautifully, and she has never looked prettier on film than she does here.
He also does a great job trying to get Elvis to drive his car, but keep him away from his daughter.
Warren Berlinger also plays a great comic relief role as Philip, who really likes Cynthia.
Adding a nice touch to the film as well is Una Merkel and Cecil Kellaway.
They play an elderly couple that Elvis meet and convinces them to let him and his band watch their house as they take a vacation in his car. |
tt0961728 | The Escapist | Denis Hopkins (Jonny Lee Miller) seems to have the perfect life, a job as a pilot, a beautiful home and wife Valerie (Paloma Baeza) who is expecting their first child. One night, Denis and Valerie's home is broken into by a borderline psychotic thief named Ricky Barnes (Andy Serkis) who shoots and kills Valerie, coldly saying to Denis: 'I'm going to let you live'. Valerie dies while being transported to the hospital, and the baby narrowly survives childbirth, leaving Denis devastated. Barnes is sentenced to twenty years in Sullom Voe Prison, which is on a remote island in the middle of the North Sea. Denis is not satisfied with the sentence, considering Barnes shows no remorse and openly mocks Denis in court.
Three months later, Denis has fallen into a pit of depression, refusing to be a father to his daughter; Amy, who is being raised by his brother and sister-in-law, one day he is out flying his plane, and switches off his engines letting it glide through the air, seemingly committing suicide, leaving his home and his daughter to his brother and sister-in-law.
Some time later Denis, alive and well, having faked his death, demolishes a police car with a sledgehammer. He is remanded for seven days (taking advantage of the fact that he is not legally alive) and is instructed by his appointed solicitor not to cause trouble, to avoid going aboard 'The Magic Roundabout'; in which if he continues to cause trouble he will be sent to a higher security prison, Denis intends to cause trouble, hoping it will send him to Sullom Voe.
As the months progress Denis, now under the pseudonym John Watt, has been sentenced to two years in a category B prison for many attempted escapes, and is planning another escape, despite his cellmate Ron (Gary Lewis) advising against it. One night at Christmas, Denis has an emotional conversation over a bottle of whiskey with Mick, a guard and friend of Ron's, in which he finally gives into feeling the loss of his family. One day another inmate and friend of Denis, Vin (Vas Blackwood), a junkie whom he met whilst being transported to his first prison, irritates an inmate known as Spaz, who was an accomplice of Barnes in the robbery of Denis's home. Denis, driven by revenge, attempts to kill Spaz, but is stabbed in the stomach, Denis makes his way back to his cell leaving Vin to attack Spaz. Denis returns to fight Spaz, only to find Vin has been murdered, and Spaz warns Denis and Ron that they are next.
Ron blackmails Mick, who has smuggled stuff in and out of the prison for him over the years, for the keys to the gates of the prison to assist them in their escape. Mick begrudgingly cooperates, not without mockingly revealing the reason Vin was in prison with him (Denis believed he was arrested for shoplifting, but for actually brutally murdering his mother). Denis and Ron escape and head for the countryside, taking shelter in a caravan belonging to a friend of Ron's. Denis returns to his home to confront his sister-in-law Christine (Jodhi May) is now living in his home raising his daughter on her own, Ron seeing this (believing Denis to be John Watt) asks for answers.
Denis reveals his intentions of killing Ricky Barnes to Ron, who tries to convince Denis to stay away, and turns himself in. He is sent to Sullom Voe, where he finds Barnes and threatens him. One day, Denis attempts to finally to get his revenge on Barnes, Ricky causes an explosion in the prison and threatens Denis to help him escape, blackmailing him with the lives of his daughter and Christine who are being held at gunpoint by Barnes's son Joey (Phillip Barantini), who was also involved in the robbery that killed Denis's wife. Barnes, remembering Denis told him he was a pilot, forces him to fly a Medical plane off the island and back England.
Back at Denis's home, Ron attempts to speak to Christine but finds Joey holding them hostage. He forces his way into the house, but is killed after a tussle with Joey, allowing Christine a chance to escape with the baby. Barnes, who was on the phone with Joey the whole time on the plane, believes he doesn't need Denis anymore and attempts to shoot him, but Denis disarms him. Denis then turns off the engines and lets the plane glide through the air (taking advantage of his knowledge of planes) and plans to parachute leaving Ricky to die when it crashes, despite Ricky's plea's to let him live and attempting to bribe him with whatever he wants, even admitting that Denis has got him scared, but Denis, who says that Denis died along with his wife that night, leaves with his final words to him being; 'you can't give me what I want'. Ricky desperately tries to start the plane up again, but his efforts are futile and he crashes shortly after Denis parachutes into the ocean. After Denis lands in the ocean, he contemplates what to do next, admitting he had no idea what to expect, or what to do after Killing Ricky Barnes. In the Final line of the film, Denis quotes the saying: 'An eye for an eye, leaves everyone blind'.
The film ends with Denis sitting outside his home looking over the newspaper clipping off Barnes's incarceration. | flashback | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0047969 | Daddy Long Legs | A police offiL
cer finds a baby in a trash can, and Mrs. Lippett, the cruel matron at an orphanage where children are made to work, names her "Jerusha Abbott" (she picks "Abbott" out of a phone book and gets "Jerusha" from a tombstone). The orphan, who comes to be called Judy, does what she can to stand up for the younger children, frequently clashing with both Mrs. Lippett and the cold hearted trustees. At one point she leads a rebellion against being served prunes with every meal and at another, steals a doll from a selfish rich girl to lend to a dying orphan.
Years later, wealthy Jervis Pendleton, a mysterious benefactor, pays to send Judy, now the oldest and most talented child in the orphanage, to college. He insists, however, that Judy must never try to contact him in person. Judy calls him "Daddy-Long-Legs," and writes to him, however. Judy proves popular with her wealthier and more "aristocratic" classmates, and writes a successful book to repay "Daddy-Long-Legs" the money he spent on her. She is generally happy but misses not having any real family members to take pride in her accomplishments. Judy also finds herself caught up in a romantic triangle with the older brother of a classmate and an older man (who is, unknown to her, her mysterious benefactor). She eventually chooses the older suitor and is delighted to learn that he is her "Daddy-Long-Legs." | romantic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0369672 | A Love Song for Bobby Long | Following the death of her mother from a drug overdose, eighteen-year-old Purslane (Pursy) Hominy Will (Johansson) leaves a Florida trailer park, where she lives with an abusive boyfriend, to return to her hometown of New Orleans. Her mother Lorraine was a jazz singer, whom Pursy felt neglected her for her career. Pursy had dropped out of high school and left the city.
The girl is surprised to find strangers living in her mother's dilapidated home: Bobby Long (Travolta), a former professor of literature at Auburn University, and his protégé and former teaching assistant, Lawson Pines (Gabriel Macht), a struggling writer. Both men are heavy drinkers and smokers. They pass time quoting poets, playing chess, and spending time with the neighbors; Long also sings country-folk songs. The two convince Pursy that her mother left the house to all three of them. (But she is legally the sole heir, and the other two are limited by her mother's will as to how long they can stay in the house.)
Pursy moves in, acting as the most responsible member of the evolving dysfunctional family. The men's efforts to drive her away decline as they grow more fond of her. Bobby - slovenly and suffering from ailments he prefers to ignore - tries to improve Pursy by introducing her to the novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter; he also encourages her to return to high school and get her degree. Lawson is attracted to her but hesitates to become involved. The three have memories of Lorraine, especially Pursy, who feels that her mother ignored her to pursue her jazz career. When she finds a cache of letters her mother wrote to her but never mailed, Pursy learns more about how Lorraine felt about her, and the identity of her biological father. | storytelling, melodrama | train | wikipedia | If you like movies that are character driven, then this is one for you to watch.I have never seen Scarlett Johanssen in anything before.
Gabriel Macht also does a good job as Lawson Pines, Bobby Long's former teaching assistant who has accompanied Long into his descent out of a sense of loyalty and guilt.Perhaps the most interesting character, to me, is the one you never see, Lorraine Will; a New Orleans diva and the mother of young Pursey.
Lorraine's death from alcoholism is what brings our characters together, and much like Alex in The Big Chill, we never once see or hear from Lorraine (not even in voice-over when Pursey reads a letter never sent to her by Lorraine), but we experience her through the people in this movie.
For those who have read Ronald Everett Capps' novel 'Off Magazine Street' and savor the slow, lugubrious, decadent pattern of life in the poor section of New Orleans, then Screenwriter/Director Shainee Gabel's transformation of those ideas into A LOVE SONG FOR BOBBY LONG will certainly satisfy.
Though Gabel has manipulated characters names and identification to fit her sensitive interpretation of Capps' story into a visual manifestation, the changes are sound and serve to make this remarkably fine low budget film a humid, alcoholically lethargic slice of New Orleans as viable as, say, Tennessee Williams.
There is a captured ambiance of the South complete with decay, shanties, intermittent rain, and aimless broken lives that sets a fine stage for a rather minimal story.Purslane Hominy Will (Scarlett Johansson) is a young high school dropout living in trailer park trash in Florida with a low class boyfriend Lee (Clayne Crawford) when she learns of her mother Lorraine's death in New Orleans.
Though she hasn't seen or heard from her obese, druggie, songwriter mother in years, she wants to attend her funeral and strikes out for New Orleans.Arriving on the doorstep of her mother's rundown, rotting house, she discovers Bobby Long (John Travolta), an unkempt drunk who once was an English professor in a college in Alabama but fell into oblivion and alcohol when he lost his wife and family.
And while some feel the movie is too long for the minimal story, the length and pacing are in keeping with the traditions and the literature of the South and for this viewer it works exceedingly well.Travolta, Johansson, Macht, and Unger give multifaceted, highly sensitive performances.
However, she finds that the completely decayed house has two drunken dwellers: the former English professor Bobby Long (John Travolta) and his former assistant Lawson Pines (Gabriel Macht), who has unsuccessfully been trying to write a book about the life of Bobby Long for nine years.
The irregular John Travolta and always perfect Scarlett Johansson are splendid in the role of broken, suffered and hopeless characters, and the story is never corny.
The music score with typical blues, songs and bands from New Orleans completes this surprisingly good movie.
Travolta is now a character actor, if anyone is.American movies don't always tell about these kind of losers in such a sympathetic way.
In both cases they captured the special uniqueness and character of the cities.The pace is slower and more relaxed, which goes a long way in capturing the atmosphere of New Orleans.I highly recommend this movie..
Travolta's iconic Bobby Long and the even-keeled Gabriel Macht are nothing more than alcoholic shells of men who trade literature quotes when Purcy pops into their lives.
The casting is genius and genuine, Travolta and Macht and little miss Scarlet deliver seamless performances, imbuing the characters they portray with a 360 degree view of the evolution of the human soul.
Add to all that the stunning images of a pre Katrina New Orleans, now and forever the best city on Earth, and there is no denying the force A Love Song For Bobby Long carries into an open and evolved soul.
I have several friends who live there and each of them think this movie rates very high because of the scenery, the interesting characters and the wonderful story line..
In both movies you have a wounded genius, a musical milieu, and Bobby Long (like Robert Duvall) finds his redemption through love.
Hey, Scarlett Johansson is worth the price of admission all by herself, but the many supporting roles -- including Gabriel Macht and Deborah Kara Unger -- are what make this movie real as down-home dirt.
It's sad, but tragically lovely to watch, and it's genuinely great when they redeem themselves in the end.Scarlett Johansson is her usual luminescent self as a young girl trying to deal with her mother's legacy and find her own way, but the true joy of the film is the relationship between John Travolta and the other main actor (I apologize for forgetting his name).
And although we don't like to watch our sex symbols get old, Travolta does a great job as a man whose best years are waaayyyy behind him, but he still manages a sort of seedy grace.Rounded out with a charming supporting cast and a beautiful sense of New Orleans (and the heat) almost as a character itself, A Love Song For Bobby Long is about as close to perfect as movies can be..
He can be bad or good, sweet or sad - and each time you feel it.This story is a study in character and Travolta takes it to the limit.
The story is very good; the look of the film is great and Travolta and Johansson bring their gifts to the lead roles.
I think this movie is a great contribution to film and story telling.
The film revolves around a trio of characters; two of whom live in the house that Pursy, played by Scarlett Johannson, comes to claim after the house's owner (her estranged mother) dies.
If you like any of the actors, Cajun style music, New Orleans, or just the South, see this movie.
It's a simple movie, about a bunch of people living their lives the way they know, the way they feel.In a world which seems to promote only block-busters, or mind-wrecking dramas (rapes, murders, people with disabilities) this is just a simple but very beautiful story about people like you and me, living their 'ordinary' life.I loved the way the movie simply took me and my girlfriend off the seat and introduced us to their world.
In my opinion this was hands down the best performance I've ever seen out of John Travolta, it was so far from the usual one sided character he plays.
Gabriel Macht, whom I had never heard of before this movie, really to me was the glue of the trio, he was such a wonderful actor, it was a treat to see.Shainee Gabel did an amazing job not sacrificing the integrity of the story with anything sensationalistic.
The Characters are real people, Travolta was Perfect for the part, Scarlett Johansson was so believable.
I have recommended Love Song for Bobby lone many times to my family and friends.One of my most favorite parts of the movie is when Travolta is singing with his band of friends.
Many critics, recognizing the movie is well shot and acted, considered it a book of literature quotations, but with such a talented John Travolta and with Scarlett Johansson in a very good shape the final opinion is that the picture is definitely above -average.
Anytime a movie is set in New Orleans, the actors give their characters an Alabama accent (Travolta's character has an excuse for this though).
John Travolta is Bobby Long, just like Scarlett Johansson is Purcy and Gabriel Macht is Lawson.
The shots of New Orleans give a wonderful background to a movie that will make you wish for a chance of redemption for each character.
Great movie!!!It touched my soul and if you have the heart to see beyond the beautiful actress you will see- a movie that shows you a picture of a family crushed by the life and its hardness and how the love and friendship can save you and your soul.The movie gives the opportunity to see John Travolta in a new drama character and to show us how great one alcoholic can be.I was sick by the perfect characters with gorgeous bodies and perfect smiles.This movie touches you not with effects and perfect heroes but with touching story and a lot of clever jokes.It has it all pain joy happiness love and friendship.I love this movie- see it.Perfect choice of characters and great script.Well made film for people who can understand it..
By and large, Travolta, who plays the title role of "Bobby Long," has played a lot of interesting characters in the last two decades and his acting seems to get better and better.
Macht is a new face but he was good, too, and his character "Lawson Pines" was, by far, the nicest person of the three.So, if you like good acting and appreciate outstanding cinematography, which this movie boasts and don't mind soap-opera-type stories, you should like this film very much.
Drama loves have a great option to see this move, I mean I have seen this move very closely, and Mr. Travolta is performing best in this movie move over the locations and no flashbacks are kind of realistic.
The fact that we only really learned the "full story" of the beginning of the action, at the end of the film is part of the genius of the writing, which made the revelations seem just as they would be experienced in real life.The cinematography was excellent, with the character of New Orleans playing a supporting role through the art of the camera work.Direction was excellent, the action moved along briskly, but without apparent impatience.
They were all of excellent quality.The principals: Bobby Long, was at times somewhat over the top as an to-be-redeemed sinner, but the performance was generally very carefully nuanced to allow the audience to get to know a man who is wrestling with demons and quoting giants, while making his ebullient way through the day.
Great movie, well written script and beautifully directed by a new director Shainee Gabel with top performances by John Travolta and Scarlet Johansson.
This isn't a "ha ha" comedy, but there is enough to make you smile or even laugh out loud once in a while.Some of the characters (Bobby Long, Lawson Pines) and themes (literature, decline of an English professor) reminded me a bit of "Wonder Boys." This movie falls short by comparison, again mostly because of the casting.
A LOVE SONG FOR BOBBY LONG (2004) **1/2 John Travolta, Scarlett Johanssen, Gabriel Macht, Deborah Kara Unger.What is it about movies down south, specifically The Big Easy, New Orleans, that evokes a certain Southern Gothic laziness that is refreshing for the most part in its colorful atmosphere and usually borderline characters near caricatures?
The latest cinematic gumbo is a picaresque shades of the '70s storytelling with newcomer filmmaker Shainee Gabel's adaptation of Ronald Everett Capps' slightly eccentric tale about a somewhat independent young woman named Pursy Will (Johanssen continuing to be an interesting screen presence in her eclectic roles to date) who reluctantly returns home for the funeral of her estranged local heroine/folksinger Lorraine Will (who is never depicted on screen only in fond recollections) where she discovers her late mother's house is inhabited by Bobby Long (Travolta in his Southern accent mode) a cantankerous aging drunk and former professor of literature who has holed up as a latter-day squatter of sorts with his young protégé and wanna be author Lawson Pines (Macht in an underplayed turn).
Scarlett Johansson and newcomer Gabriel Macht give nice performances, and the sexual tension between them is palpable (though a bit forced at times.) The use of "The City That Care Forgot" (New Orleans) as a backdrop is possibly the best thing about the film; it is a character unto itself and adds immeasurably to the overall feel of the film.
This time she was with John Travolta in A Love Song for Bobby Long.
Being a long trip, I didn't want something entirely boring, so I started watching this, hoping it would at least be entertaining.Well, I hadn't heard much about it, but I was pleasantly surprised by the performances, even if the film itself isn't so great.Scarlett Johanssen plays Purslane, a young woman who returns to New Orleans after hearing of her mother's death, expecting to reclaim her old home.
Unfortunately two of her estranged mother's friends now live in the house - Bobby Long (John Travolta), a drunken former professor, and a younger guy named Lawson Pines.
They are hard at work on a novel about Bobby's tumultuous life, and have no intention of leaving, which creates a strong tension.Although the movie is not particularly special and its "low budget" appeal certainly gives it that air of pretentiousness many indie films have today, the performances are great.
It tells the story of Pursy (Scarlett Johannson) sharing the house left behind by her late mother with routine drinkers Bobby Long (John Travolta) and Lawson (Gabriel Macht).
And Pursy will make some tearful discoveries about her mother.The film stays watchable to me largely because of Scarlett Johansson and John Travolta's baffling presence as the gray-haired Bobby Long.
Tennessee Williams already wrote that play, five or six times, fifty or sixty years ago, so films like 'A Love Song for Bobby Long' just seem lazy in their flat, unoriginal, post-card view of how people live in the South.Bobby Long (John Travolta) is a disgraced English professor who has migrated from Alabama to New Orleans to drink himself to death.
This format might work if it weren't for the fact that the dialog runs like an 'intro to Southern Lit.' course at a big state U, with plenty of thickly accented lofty quotations by Bobby, tired, purple descriptions of New Orleans voiced by Lawson (whose name itself is yet another cliché), and shots of Pursy sitting around reading Carson McCullers (whose 'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter' seems to bear the brunt of the blame for the formulaic story) or Flannery O'Connor.Travolta is typically charismatic as Bobby Long, but for his painfully bad Alabama accent and the fact that his character is as cliché as they come.
The plot is thin and a bit predictable, and hinges on a rather unsurprising revelation about Pursy's parentage, but Johannson, Macht, and, to a lesser extent, Travolta, are engaging and entertaining enough that I didn't consider the film a waste of time.Still, I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the endless string of heavy-handed, cartoonish clichés about life in New Orleans, and the plot and characters are treacly and unoriginal.
Gabel's drama about a woman who returns to New Orleans after the death of her mother and shares the house with her ex literature professor friend (Travolta) and his biographer (Macht).
The girl is played extremely well by Scarlett Johansson,a nd i found her character very believable.She meets two men, Bobby and Lawson (played by John Travolta and Gabriel Macht), who live in her mothers house, and the story follows their building relationships and struggles together.The movie is really moving and leaves you with a warm feeling inside, with a charming soundtrack to go with.Highley recommended for those seeking a quality drama to watch on a Friday night.
After her mother's death Pursy (Johansson) goes to New Orleans and finds two of her mother's best friends living in the house she thought was now hers.This is a movie you don't just watch.
The Cinematography is more than outstanding and shows New Orleans and the characters with a clarity, a richness and an honesty rarely found in movies.The dialogue is pertinent, cautious, clever and at times pulls no punches.
Travolta makes Bobby Long an unforgettable character (who is looking for redemption) and this may be his best performance yet.
She returns to New Orleans to find former professor Bobby Long (John Travolta) and Lawson Pines (Gabriel Macht) living in her mother's house.
A LOVE SONG FOR BOBBY LONG is a somber and lumbering story of a young girl named Percy(Scarlett Johansson)who, upon learning of her mother's death, journeys to New Orleans to claim her mother's home and, upon her arrival, finds an alcoholic former college professor (John Travolta) and an alcoholic former writer (Gabriel Macht) living there.
A poor, precocious 18 year-old woman (Scarlett Johansson) returns to New Orleans after the death of her estranged mother where she inherits a dilapidated house in the low-income section with two co-heir strangers: A quirky ex-English professor (John Travolta) and his wannabe-writer mentee (Gabriel Macht), both alcoholics in a foggy melancholy.
She returns to her mother's house to discover that it is inhabited by two men, one an aging alcoholic, Bobby Long (John Travolta).Has potential as a story of reconciliation and unexpected friendships but doesn't ever really spark to life.
When I first selected this film on the Encore package I knew it would be a good one because John Travolta has emerged as one of the great actors of our time.
He has come a long way since his dancing days in 'Saturday Night Fevor.' I was not disappointed, as the entire cast was outstanding and the screenplay writer put up one out of the south as it is today.The music was terrific and, although the film may be slow to some, why don't you watch a movie with an aging Bruce Willis or Sylvestor Stallone trying to act like a stud?
if you miss New Orleans watch this movie.
There is so much wonderful about this movie, John Travolta, Scarlett Johannsen, the director who also wrote the screenplay...listening to the words and music is so beautiful that it can move you to tears.
I will probably see the movie since I love John Travolta, but I am already a little put off.
request for a real quote from the movie A Love Song for Bobby Long. |
tt0349416 | Eulogy | The film opens with Kate Collins walking up to a house. She knocks and a woman answers the door. Kate explains that although she doesn't know her she has a long story to explain.
The story begins with the death of her grandfather, Edmund Collins. The movie then goes on to show how all the family members found out about the death, and how they came together for the funeral. As the Collins family joins their widowed mother/grandmother, Charlotte Collins, the family's dysfunctions and idiosyncrasies come to light. Kate's father, Daniel Collins, is an "obscure foreign film" actor whose career peaked at age 8 when he appeared in a peanut butter commercial. Kate's uncle, Skip Collins, is an overly hormonal father of overly hormonal twin sons (Fred and Ted) who managed to run their mother out of their family. Kate's aunt, Lucy Collins, and her girlfriend Judy Arnolds are both criticised throughout the movie because of their relationship. Most of this criticism comes from Kate's other aunt, Alice Collins. The bossy, intimidating Alice has managed to both raise her three children and drive her husband into submissive silence, because of her persistent talking and badgering. Once they all arrive at the only family home Kate is told by Charlotte that her grandfather wished for her to give the eulogy at the funeral.
After a family dinner that goes south when Lucy and Judy announce that they are getting married, tired of the family feuding, Charlotte tries to commit suicide by overdosing on a medication. While the family sits in the waiting room they run into Samantha, a nurse at the hospital who is also an old friend of Alice's. After having her stomach pumped and after rejoining the family, she tries again by jumping out of a moving van on a bridge and although she does not die, she is seriously injured and spends the remainder of the movie in a wheelchair.
During the film, Kate continually tries to come up with a eulogy while dealing with a previous romance with Ryan, from whom she ran away after being caught by Ryan's mother who came home while Ryan and Kate were having sex. Kate gets reacquainted with Ryan (after trying to dodge him several times around town) and their relationship reignites.
At Edmund's will reading, it is revealed that Edmund has three families that don't know about each other. This explains Edmund's inability to keep names and number of children straight over the years before also dropping the bomb that he was up to his "prostate in debt". Kate is tasked with finding and telling the other two families of Edmund's demise.
Ultimately, per Edmund's will, he is placed in a casket and floated out on a local lake in a boat. Ted and Fred, having previously filled the casket with gasoline, start shooting fiery arrows from a bow at the casket. During this time Kate finally gives her eulogy. One of the arrows eventually hits the casket and a moment later the casket, completely unexpectedly, explodes in a fiery explosion and completely demolishes the boat, body, and casket in a splintery mess.
The movie ends with Kate talking to the woman from the beginning of the film. The woman explains she is not actually the person she was looking for but rather her neighbor. | comedy | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0095452 | Kingsajz | Olo Jedlina (Olo is informal for Olgierd) was born a little person, and while serving the government of Drawerland he is permitted to visit Kingsajz. However, after getting few drops of a potion that made him human-sized he decides to stay in Kingsajz for good and by drinking a human soda drink called Polo-Cockta regularly he avoids shrinking. He becomes a journalist for a popular magazine and the boyfriend of an attractive model and lives a peaceful life although in Drawerland he is considered traitor and refugee.
His close friend Adaś Happs (Adaś is informal for Adam) is a scientist that once helped to produce the Kingsajz potion, rebelled and escaped too. Hiding in Kingsajz he works in his secret laboratory to discover the potion formula hoping to be able to manufacture it one day and give it to all the little people in Drawerland.
The movie starts when Adaś finally discovers the secret and has to immediately escape from his lab which is being demolished by little people agents that tracked him down. He manages to contact Olo and tell him everything but before they meet Adaś is kidnapped right in front of Olo. Before that happens however he puts the vial into a pocket of Ala that unknowingly to Olo was also asked by Adaś to be there.
Olo follows her wanting to get the vial with Kingsajz but Ala doesn't trust him at their first meeting and just shows him empty pocket with a hole in it. She follows him for a while and when they meet at a fashion show in which Olo's girlfriend takes part Ala reveals that she still has a vial and gives it to Olo. It also turns out that she in fact designed the collection.
They both decide to free Adaś from Drawerland when he is being interrogated and tortured. They seek help of two others liliputs that concoct the plan and lead the rescue action but unfortunatedly both die before reaching Drawerland.
When Olo gets there alone and liliput-sized he allows himself to be captured and manages to fool Drawerland's high officials that he is in fact secret agent working on Adaś's case. He gives a name of liliput secret service official that he knew was killed very recently and tells it was his superior and only person that knew about Olo's assignment. Liliputs don't fully believe him but allow him to meet Adaś. Adaś gives him a message with Kingzajz formula encoded into it.
After that Olo manages to escape from Drawerland but the vial with Kingsajz which Adaś gave Ala earlier gets smashed so although he is free, he remains a liliput. Ala manages to decipher Adaś's message and knowing the potion ingredients she tries several times with different proportions but fails each time. When she is all resigned Olo manages to contact telepathically with Adaś and learns that water which is one of the ingredients must come from a rusty tap in Adaś'a flat.
When Ala goes there and gets water she manages to produce the potion seconds before liliput agents break into her flat to kidnap Olo. The potion works just at the right time for Olo to help the girl and knock down the agents.
Soon Adaś uses telepathy once more to call for help as Drawerland official deciphered his message too, accused him of treason and the rebel scientist is about to be executed. Olo and Ala manages to save him just in time and Olo goes to Drawerland human-sized to get his friend. There he faces three officials that were after him from the beginning. During the fight they give each other shrinking injections and keep fighting liliput-sized until all three officials are defeated.
Movie ends with Olo, Adaś, Ala and her father who also was a liliput traveling in a train. They are all happy and cheerful when they notice that train is in fact a model and through the window they see a giant figure of a boy playing with it. They are all terrified when it turns out that there is something more above Kingsajz. | psychedelic, fantasy | train | wikipedia | one of the freakiest but best movies I've seen. I don't know what it is about Communism and its impact on Polish minds, but any art influenced by a hatred of it comes out awesome. Kingsajz (King Size) is another one of Machulski's satirical masterpieces. Though this movie is brilliant and slightly eerie without any background info, the insider jokes, mainly made at the expense of, you guessed it, the much hated Communist regime, will make you laugh. The movie takes absurd ideas, like soda that is actual a secret formula for un-shrinking, and little people living in a room stacked with old card catalogs, and puts them together into a philosophical movie with a very cliche yet disturbing ending.. A shallow, vapid and humorless treaty. I always wondered what good could be found in this absolute flop of Juliusz Machulski? Well, if you say this film is a satire on the Polish Communist years, then, the question easily arises why more than 50 % of Poles still recollect the Soviet years with a great warmth and nostalgia? Let's put the political problems aside. The movie, then. It is a shame to have made such a shallow and humorless try in the style of Monty Python but with much more cynical (and not funny) sexual innuendos, with less humor and less tact. The top (or, rather, the bottom) of this vapid film is the moment when a dwarfish man get into a female vagina and thus gives her gratification. This borders on with the pornography and leaved you with a deep disgust. I only may ask why such a talented director made such a bad and senseless work?. One of my latest major disappointments in cinema. Toilet humour, Jerzy Stuhr in the same clothes (!?) as in "Deja Vu", unfunny and stupid sexual innuendoes, repetitive running about, shallow dialogues, cheap costumes, etc. It's simply remarkable how low the director of "Deja Vu" (a masterpiece in comedy genre) went here. To use his own imagery of this one, he went down the toilet.It's got a potential (the story, the dialogues and action scenes could have been done so much better), but all we have is a kind of unfunny freaky story for adults (though, without proper adult material as well). What audience was this piece of trash made for? A rhetorical question it is.A bizarre notion was in my mind after watching the immortal "Deja Vu", that Juliusz Machulski was a genius. Now it's clearly seen that he is not. A genius would not have done such a tasteless "parable".It simply does not deserve more than a 2 out of 10 (do not trust the high mark on IMDb). Thanks for attention.. don't kick this man, my dear, or you'll get tired. Many people try to see this movie ONLY as satire on "soviet times" in Poland. If you do so you just loose a great opportunity to have great time with one of the best polish comedies. Imagine people who have to drink "Polo Cockta" (polish imitation of Coke and simultaneously a symbol of polish tries to be as good as "the western world" many years ago) just to stay in their actual (human) size. When you stop drinking it you can get into quite different world, where everything is minimized, but with usage of elements of the "big world" (imagine having a bath i a tea-pot...). When you have too little to share, you have to... shrink people. (It's quite funny idea to solve polish problems of the eighties, when we lacked of mostly everything:). This movie is definitely worth watching. Pity not all polish jokes are translatable but... when you "get dwarfed" you will understand.. Oh yes you will..:) |
tt0465670 | Wilderness | The film starts with the arrival of Callum at a small juvenile facility ran by Jed and consists of Steve, Blue, Jethro, Lindsay, Davie, and Lewis. It is implied that the group gives Davie and Lindsay a hard time. After Steve and Louis get back at the two by urinating on them, Callum discovers Davie has killed himself. Davie's dad learns about the suicide and the group, along with Jed, are sent to an island. Once arriving, the group notices something odd about it.
Callum is knocked out by an unseen force and is discovered by the group. They go swimming and afterwards Jed notices a campfire in the distance. Lindsay is captured by an unseen force. They then meet a group of women, consisting of Jo, Louise, and Mandy. Jed and Louise come to agreement to keep the groups separate, while Jo and Lewis attempt to hit it off.
Steve and Lewis discover a man and chase after him. The man pokes Steve with a stick, prompting Steve to beat him with it, and Callum later discovers him dead. Callum is caught by Jed and Louise washing the blood off and is handcuffed by a tree. Jed blames the group for taking his phone which angers Steve. Jed then decides the girls are staying with them.
The next morning Jethro wakes up to go get more water and is then attacked by something. Jed orders Blue and Lindsay to go find him and they discover his arm in the water. The group is ambushed and Jed is killed by a group of dogs. One of the dogs chases Louise and she is knocked off a cliff.
The group discover Jethro hanging from a tree with the letter D painted on him. They find a cabin and take refuge in it. Lindsay reveals everything he knew, including who the killer is, which is Davie's dad. The next morning Blue is killed after he gets caught in a bear trap. Davie's dad then forces the rest of them out of the cabin.
The group finds that Louise is alive but badly injured. Louise is killed after the group leaves her alone. Steve plans to leave the others and Lewis agrees to it. They discover the fuel line is cut and Davie's dad shoots at them with a flaming arrow. The dogs return and they all get away from them. Steve and Lewis discover Lindsay and chase after him.
The dogs are eventually called back but one stays behind and Callum kills it. The group discovers Louise's head on a stick, prompting Callum to cut the dog's head off. They then cook the dog and eat it. Callum puts the dog's head on a stick. Steve and Mandy then fight the next morning.
Lewis subdues Steve and Steve calms down. Jo then angers Steve, prompting him to kill Lewis. Jo then runs away and is caught in a trap. Steve finds her and she begs him for help. He then declines and she is burned alive.
Steve runs into Lindsay and ties him to a tree. Davie's dad appears and forces Steve to cut his wrists. Steve then taunts him and throws a knife in his leg, only to be shot in the head with the crossbow. Davie's dad cuts Lindsay free and tells him to meet him by the boat. Callum appears and calls him out.
The two fight and Callum chases after Davie's dad with the crossbow. Mandy confronts Lindsay and causes him to fall off the cliff to his death. Callum prepares to shoot Davie's dad with the crossbow but the latter succumbs to his wounds on the sand. Mandy and Callum reunite and Callum states that "everyone died on the island". The two then get on the boat and leave the island. | revenge, murder, violence | train | wikipedia | It seems strange that there is on one prison guard with this group of about ten juvenile offenders out on a supposedly deserted island and the killer seems almost too effective is dispatching his prey although to be fair it works for the movie in terms of the scariness of the villain and some explanation is provided for his skill in this regard.
The way in which some of the gorier death scenes, such as the first dog killing, are lingered on is a bit too much and toward the end some of the character's abhorrent behaviour comes across as a bit much also (Okay we already knew these guys were scum, can we get on with it).On the whole a slick, well made and exciting movie which is both helped and hampered, but mostly helped, by it's willingness to be mean spirited and harsh..
In case you were thrilled by movies like "Battle Royale", "Blood Camp Thatcher" or even the more classic milestone "The Most Dangerous Game", you simply have to see "Wilderness"; a brand new British survival-horror effort directed by Michael "Deathwatch" Basset.
Following films like "Dog Soldiers", "28 Days Later
" and "The Descent", this "Wilderness" is yet another piece of evidence that the British horror industry is working on a remarkable revival nowadays.
Bassett.Set on a remote uninhabited island used by Britain's correctional services as a retreat for troubled youth, the movie tells the story of a group of juvenile criminals who get sent to the remote location only to find themselves being stalked by a trained killer bent on revenge.Screened at the 2006 edition of Montreal's Fantasia Film Festival, the movie doesn't make much effort to conceal the identity of the stalker.
Rather, it's about the thrill of hunting humans, the most sophisticated predator on the planet, and the diverse and innovative tricks involved.Featuring Sean Pertwee, who seems to own a clause in British movie contracts saying he will appear in every UK thriller/horror film under production, the film showcases the talents of a young cast of unknowns who, while not demanded of Shakespearean performances, nonetheless turn in flawless performances to round out the movie.Bassett, whose previous directorial debut was 2002's intriguing but flawed Deathwatch, seems to have found his stride with this effort.
He clearly understands how to pace a film of this nature, and what works and what doesn't in what clearly was a demanding shoot involving attack dogs, forest chases, fires and numerous stunts.The movie has something for every fan of the genre; beheadings, vicious forest traps, maulings, being eaten alive, crossbows, knife fights, skinheads, near drownings, the list goes on.Viewers can add this to the ever growing list of British horror films such as The Descent, Dog Soldiers, and 28 Days Later (to name only a few) that are currently setting the world standard for delivering quality cinematic chills and thrills..
So for those of you who think this is probably a movie with a profound message and a big amount of drama, sorry to disappoint you, but this is more than anything a flick meant to be enjoyed by gore lovers.In "Wilderness", a bunch of violent prisoners are sent to an isolated island, after one of the interns commit suicide.
The whole point of the trip gets quickly forgotten, but a new lesson regarding survival is what the inmates are forced to learn, when the figure of a mysterious hunter appears out of nowhere and starts to chase them for no evident reason.Essentially, "Wilderness" is a movie that is probably not meant to be taken very seriously.
Wilderness isn't a great modern horror film, but it does a good job of taking old ideas and rehashing them into a fresh and exciting plot line.
A bunch of teenage delinquents are taken to a remote British island in order to 'build character', but are picked off by an unseen assailant in a variety of gruesome ways.Wilderness, a violent British made survivalist horror, is another clunker from director Michael J.
Once again, Bassett presents us with another poorly thought out movie saddled with a ridiculous conceit, a poor cast (when Sean Pertwee is the best actor on the bill, something is definitely up), and a very bad script.Even if a large picturesque island paradise off the coast of the UK actually existed, the idea that it could possibly remain totally uninhabited is unbelievably daft.
"Wilderness" is a fantastic film about several teens struggle for survival as they are hunted down by a at-first mysterious killer on a remote island where they have been taken to lean a different kind of lesson.
It stars Sean Pertwee, Alex Reid, Toby Kebbell, Karly Greene, Stephen Wight & Lenora Crichlow.After the suicide of one of their inmates at a British male young offender institution, a group of teenage offenders and their prison officer, are sent to a remote island for outdoor rehabilitation.
He is a vile and nasty piece of work that Bassett enjoys playing the audience's sympathies with.At times brutal and even unforgiving as a human interest piece, Wilderness is a far better survivalist horror than some would have you believe.
Sean Pertwee stars as Jed,a warden at a Young Offenders' Institute,who's assigned to take a group of dangerous inmates to a deserted island for an Outward Bound course after one of their dorm-mate commits suicide because of vicious bullying.Things look up when the group runs into a couple of girls but it isn't long before their numbers start rapidly diminishing,thanks to an unseen assailant intent on picking them off one by one.This insanely bloody survival horror is truly exciting and well-made.The characters are well-developed and some of the gory deaths are suitably shocking.The biggest problem with Wilderness is that it kills off its most likable characters too early on and the ostensible lead is underwritten so it's hard to really care about him.Still if you like survivalist horror cinema give this one a chance..
Well, the first few times you see the gore, you think "oh my god, thats gross"...then you see it again and you're like "ewww"...then you see it again and eventually, you end up just watching this gore with no reaction what-so-ever because you've seen enough of it already....and this, is a common problem with most British horror films (like 28 days later).Some of the acting isn't brilliant either...and correct me if i'm wrong, but i got the impression this was a pretty low budget movie.
This one does by having nothing to show besides the premise which can be seen in any other horrorflick.When u think of it, it's even a bit awkward to see people make a film that basically again just has a bunch of people being somewhere for them to be murdered off one by one - The End - This movie stands out in being unoriginal, somehow i even thought it to be somewhat of a cute attempt, maybe being written by a 12 year old for a school writing contest?just another pointless flick i guess..2/10.
Had I been producing this movie I would have left the entire cast and crew on the island, along with some wolves and bears, thus doing the film industry a tremendous service.Sean Pertwee reprisals his role in Dog Soldiers by putting himself on the canine menu once again, and Alex Reid plays the tough guy, though I think she's a girl.
i have watched wilderness and enjoyed it with great pleasure at fist i thought it started off similar to the movie "band of the hand" were a group of juvenile delinquent's are sent to a swamp to learn how to survive and be to be punished,but were that move got silly, wilderness was neat-o ,marvolous,splendidly suspense full, tip-top gore,horror flick-British style-anyway i think its a British film.
also some good horror movies popping up from there.anyway i was very pleased with it,, seems like every scene had some frightening moments to it,nice cruel death scenes, just right on the gore ,great horror flick,will watch again and again.
OK in a nutshell the movie contained a few unique twists mostly though it is a good run up to a horror can lead on well if u haven't seen hey no worries i ain't tipping u off the movie is actual rather good depending on if u like the British genre that comes with it mostly the film is a rather unique look at survival and the adaptability of the youth but in truth its just a lot of teenagers getting there own back in essence look just watch it seriously has a few sick scenes has a few funny scenes has a little side humour mostly its a good adaptability.
However, they soon discover that they're not alone.Wilderness is a pretty obvious mash-up of themes borrowed from various sources: the island location, lack of adult supervision, and sadistic bullying of Lord of the Flies; the man vs man conflict of The Most Dangerous Game, as well as its hunter antagonist and island location; the revenge setup of Friday the 13th and countless other slashers; the survival horror of Deliverance; and "Broken Britain" thrillers about despicable, violent youths.
There are also hints of other slasher and survival horror films, but, unlike some reviewers, I think Dog Soldiers and Battle Royale are kind of stretching it.
At the start we get a group of young offenders in a prison and one of them commits suicide, after he is continuously bullied by his cellmates, the remaining inmates are then sent to an Island where they have to learn team building which was a little far-fetched and out there and then they come across a small group of girls who are also there for the same reason and both become targets of a psychopathic army man whose hell bent on killing them all and armed with vicious attack dogs.This movie was pure fun all the way through, okay the who dun nit angle wasn't hard to figure out but that didn't matter as this movie sustained suspense all the way through and it's unpredictable which is rare in horror movies these days and the death scenes are well thought out and very elaborate and those attack dogs were nasty and vicious and were well used, and this movie really makes the most of out of its eerie island setting and cleverly staged scenes in the woods and the cliffs and oceans.
This movie has a definite height of realism to it despite the ridiculous reason that they were sent to the island, and this movie does build drama and suspense, the killer was spot on and a welcome change from the usual teen slice and dice, here we get an army guy decked out in camflourage and decked out with attack dogs which makes the chase scenes more nerve racking and exciting which does add a hint of intelligence to the proceedings, but my only complaint was that when the killer was finally revealed he was quite easily dispatched which was a bit of a downer.The acting was very good despite the fact that they were mostly underdeveloped but that didn't stop them from becoming interesting as we get a range of variety in the cast Sean Pertwee as the Prison guard gets a nasty death and gives a credible performance, as does Alex Reid she displays true strength and courage to her role and should've been in it more.
Stephen Wight also did well at making his character unlikeable and believable as the movie carries on he becomes more and more unhinged which was exciting and Lenora Crichlow brought true charm to her role as Mandy and made decent for final girl material.All in all "Wilderness" is a decent survival flick slasher movie, that brings something a little different to the table and gladly it works as a whole..
A history of violence gives you power over the weaker in a prison cell, but how far does it get you in the wilderness?The movie is a good work from the British film industry, if you like films like Dog Soldiers and Creep you will certainly enjoy this one.
"Wilderness" has the same intensity, attention to story and characters, and propensity for gruesome special effects and gore that leave little to the viewer's imagination.I actually have no doubt in my mind that Bassett was in some way influenced by "The Descent" - my personal favorite horror movie so far this millennium - especially with its outdoors setting and a mindless killer chasing after tough, non-stereotypical young people.
And the newest member of this wholesome crew of violent youths is Callum (Toby Kebbell), a young man prone to uncontrolled bursts of anger and violence who is there because he committed a brutal murder.So, after one of them commits suicide in his bunk, the whole group is shipped off to a nearby island, where their supervisor Jed (Sean Pertwee, of Marshall's "Dog Soldiers") will hopefully teach these boys some dignity and respect through a little bit of hard labor in the forests of the UK.
Soon enough, however, both groups come to realize that they are not alone on this island either, and that someone or something is hunting them down one at a time (and that maybe one of them is not who he/she appears to be either), and it soon becomes clear that the only thing that matters is survival, and getting off the island alive and in one piece, or die trying...Let me just say that "Wilderness" is most definitely not a movie for children.
Strange, I know, but just see it to understand what I mean, and make up your mind about whether or not it ruins your late-night fun."Wilderness" is a great movie, with an interesting premise that stayed my interest a little bit by forcing us to root for under-developed characters and believe some rather stupid actions on their part.
it all looks like its going in the right direction and the more good horror movies out there, the better..
Well, it's really more of a teen skewering flick but if that's what you enjoy, you'll like Wilderness.Now, there's not any more depth to this film than your average kids-getting-killed movie and it's not making any wry observations about the genre or trying to be ironic or anything like that.
Sean Pertwee and Alex Reid as the male and female guards also engage in a cute "who's got bigger balls" stare down.If there's any problem with this film it's that the only characters who even remotely resemble good guys are disposed of early on, and the ones that are left are either ciphers you have no reason to care about or bad people who, to some extent, deserve what they're getting.
It's also a little odd that the ones who survive are probably the least interesting characters in the story.If you don't like teen slasher films, there's nothing special here to bother with.
The main draw here is the charismatic Sean Pertwee (Dog Soldiers, 2002), as this band of brothers guide on an uninhabited island known as The Wilderness, an old army training ground handed over to the prison service for the aid of character building, there's an irony here somewhere, and rehabilitation.A good concept in theory but executed in the manner of amateur hour at a local movie making convention.
Considering the makers obviously cast him to draw the crowds to the only known name in the film, he was vastly under-used and under-credited.The unknown young actors did do a good job, so all credit to them, but the movie itself was very mediocre.If this does better than Dog Soldiers, which in my mind should have gained far more recognition than it did, I will be extremely disappointed..
Sean Pertwee is the only cast member of any real note here.Wilderness is a very good film that will have most gripped, the plot is good & the action & gore is great.
I haven't heard of this movie before but it sounded interesting enough.I love horror and suspense and liked how it was out in the wilderness.I noticed it was another U.K. film and was looking forward to seeing it since I enjoyed the last few I saw.I had to re-watch a few scenes because I didn't understand their accents all the time and some of the wording is different but I could understand what was going on.At first I was angry at the way Davie and Lindsay were getting treated but then realized the bullies were gonna be slaughtered in the wilderness and couldn't wait!
I liked the direction the story took and at first I never guessed who the killer was,but I was a little upset he was killed after all he went through to get even for his son's death.It was a nice revenge story.I loved how he was stalking his prey by the way he hid and was camouflaged in their surroundings.This way he could see and hear everything.I haven't seen those moves before in a movie.He had a good motive for wanting all those bastards dead.But I was even more angry that Lindsay died,especially after enduring all the torture and ridicule.I really wanted him to live the most.Mandy the girl who confronted Lindsay for plotting with the killer before he fell to his death should have died instead.Her character was too annoying and sure of herself.I was happy to see Steve blown away after he turned into a complete psychopath.There are so many different ways the film could have ended but I did not like the way it ended.Either they all should have died or all except Lyndsay and Callum because Lindsay is too disabled to find a way off the Island and Callum had nothing to do with the bullying.I knew the 2 leaders were gonna die because it is mentioned in the description.
Brilliant, Wilderness follows as a triumph for British horror films like 28 Days Later & Dog Soldiers. |
tt0040141 | B.F.'s Daughter | Polly Fulton (Barbara Stanwyck) is the only daughter of rich industrialist B.F. Fulton (Charles Coburn). She is involved in a long engagement to lawyer Bob Tasmin (Richard Hart), a pleasant, dependable gentleman who has the full approval of her family. Then she meets brash intellectual Tom Brett (Van Heflin), who blames many of the world's problems on the rich. Tom and Polly heartily dislike each other at first, but she finds him exciting compared to the likable "stuffed shirt" Tasmin. Soon Tom and Polly fall passionately in love and get married.
Tom has a tense relationship with Polly's family from the start. And when he gradually realizes that his in-laws are using their connections to advance his career, he is not grateful but bitter. Polly is painfully torn between her strong-willed husband and her devoted father, whom everyone calls "B.F."
When World War II arrives, Tom takes a high-level civilian position in Washington, doing work that he cannot talk about. He and Polly rarely see each other and begin to lead separate lives. Two wartime developments eventually bring the relationship to a crisis point. Polly hears a rumor that Tom is having an affair. And she is stunned by a news report that Bob Tasmin, now a dashing military officer happily married to Polly's best friend, has apparently been killed on a mission behind enemy lines. As the truth about both situations is revealed, Polly and Tom will finally confront their own problems face to face and learn what they really mean to each other. | depressing | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1423894 | Barney's Version | Barney Panofsky (Giamatti) is living with his best friend Boogie (Speedman) in Rome. He marries the mentally disturbed and unfaithful Clara Charnofsky (Lefevre) after she tells him she is pregnant with his child. Barney later finds out the child is not his, and he demands they separate. Clara commits suicide, and a devastated Barney decides to return home to Montreal.
Barney soon gets a job back home and meets the woman who becomes his nameless second wife (Driver), the daughter of a wealthy Jewish family. At their lavish wedding, Barney meets Miriam Grant (Pike), and immediately falls in love. He tells Miriam his feelings for her that night but she rejects him. Despite his marriage, Barney sends Miriam flowers and gifts. Barney later picks up Boogie, who is in the middle of detox therapy, for a few days at Barney's lake house. He eventually finds Boogie in bed with his wife. Barney is at first overjoyed that he has an excuse to divorce her and pursue Miriam, but questions Boogie's integrity. The two argue, firing rounds from Barney's gun into the air before Barney collapses onto his dock and passes out, and a drunk Boogie falls backwards into the lake. When Barney awakens, it appears that he has shot Boogie. An abusive detective (Mark Addy) tries to beat a confession out of Barney until Barney's father, Izzy (Hoffman), intervenes. Barney continues to believe that Boogie ran away, and throughout the movie waits for him to reappear.
With his divorce finalized, Barney asks Miriam out on a date. He travels to New York City to meet her, and they finally begin a relationship. They marry and have two children as Barney gets a job producing a television series. Izzy later dies in a brothel, causing Barney to laugh and cry and call his father a "King". Barney and Miriam live happily until, on another vacation to the lake house, Barney meets Blair (Bruce Greenwood), who works in radio, Miriam's old line of work. There is an immediate platonic connection between Blair and Miriam, much to Barney's noticeable consternation.
After Barney and Miriam's son, Michael, leaves the family home, Miriam informs Barney of her intention to return to work. He attempts to dissuade her but she persists and secures employment, thanks to support from Blair.
Miriam begins work on a radio station but Barney misses her first on air interview - because he "was drunk and watching the hockey game, like has happened a thousand times before".
Barney is rude and dismissive to Miriam's colleagues but she remains steadfastly faithful to him despite his picaresque behaviour. Eventually his bad behaviour results in Miriam taking a week long visit to their son Michael's place in NYC.
While Miriam is absent, Barney gets drunk at a bar and ends up having sex with a former actress on his show. Miriam returns from NYC and is eager to pick up where they left off but Barney tells her about his infidelity and the two divorce. Miriam later marries Blair.
Barney, who displayed small signs of a deteriorating memory earlier in the film, forgetting where he had left his car on two occasions, now begins to show signs of acute memory loss, potentially Alzheimer's Disease or Dementia, though a clear diagnosis is never given.
Boogie's body is discovered in the mountains near the lake house, apparently dead from injuries suggestive of a sky diving accident.
Barney and Miriam meet for lunch in a favourite restaurant and she offers help, as a friend. She goes to the bathroom and when she returns Barney has paid for the meal but forgotten his wallet. She follows him and, by the time she catches up to him, he has forgotten that they were divorced. He speaks to her as if it was years earlier, assuming that they're still married and that their children are quite young.
Barney's condition worsens until his death. While his children are helping settle some of his affairs at the lake house, they observe a "water bomber" plane scoop up water from the lake and dump it on a fire on the mountainside, showing the children what had probably happened to Boogie.
The final scene shows Miriam visiting Barney's grave, leaving roses at a tombstone bearing both of their names. | entertaining, realism, flashback | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0103600 | 555 | While making out on the beach, a couple is attacked by a blade-wielding man dressed like a hippie. After beheading the man with a machete, the hippie slashes the woman to death with a dagger, then sexually assaults her corpse. Charged with solving "the Lake Front Butcher" murders (as the media have dubbed them) are Sergeant Connor and Detective Haller, whose main suspect is the man who found the bodies, a retired army colonel named Peter Wayne. Routinely intruding upon the investigation is stubborn local reporter Susan Rather, the occasional lover of Assistant District Attorney Ralph Kennedy.
Over the next two nights two more couples are butchered, one in their van, and the other in an abandoned factory. The modus operandi (male killed with a machete, the female killed with a knife and raped post-mortem) is the same, and the theory that Wayne is the killer is strengthened when he goes into hiding. Shortly after another couple is killed (this time in their bedroom) on the fourth night, Connor finds Wayne, who he had discovered had lived in at least two of the four cities where similar crimes (five couples killed over the course of five nights, each spree five years apart) have occurred. However, due to a lack of solid evidence connecting him to any of the murders, Wayne (who claims to have only hid because he believed Connor was personally out to get him) is let go.
After Wayne's release, Connor and Haller are approached by Susan, who claims that Ralph is the Lake Front Butcher. Susan explains that she had earlier snuck into the station to look through the case files, and found out that the ex-boyfriend of the very first victim (murdered twenty years ago in Massachusetts alongside her lover) was named Joseph Ralph Dwyer, which is Ralph's birth name. Searching for Ralph, the trio track him down to the abandoned factory, where he is killed in a shootout, though only after claiming the lives of another young couple, completing his pattern for the fifth time. | violence | train | wikipedia | Extremely rare slasher that's slightly different than other films of its kind....
555 is an extremely rare, SOV (shot on video) slasher flick from the 80s that brings something a little different to the table.
The plot concerns a cross-dresser serial killer who kills his victims on the 5th day, of the 5th movie, of the 5 year.
Back in the 80s and even today, rarely are there slasher films that boast a cross-dresser killer.
Nevertheless, it's a fun low budget horror flick that is underrated and almost impossible to get ahold of.
I of course think "555" is a superior very low budget video.
"555" has a story line and a plot as compared to most of the low low budget film/videos made at that time.
But, being a collector of just about all types of horror I figured I would go ahead and grab this obscure 80's slasher.Basically the storyline has to do with a killer that kills every 5 years for 5 nights in a row.
Does anybody care?This movie is filled with some of the worst actors I have ever seen.
The acting is so bad that it almost forces you to lose your interest in the movie, thus almost putting you to sleep.The only thing holding this terrible movie together is a few decent gore scenes.
For a movie on this budget the makers must have put all of there money into the special effects, which still aren't that great.Unless you are like me and have to own every single horror movie out there, I would suggest steering clear of this movie.
A true snoozer with a painful pace, weak "gore" which is pretty much girls getting blood splashed on them (from the *offscreen* kills of their boyfriends), ugly nude women, and acting so horrid it isn't even funny.
Nothing can save this film from it's incredibly boring and awful status, even the decapitation pictured on the video box (even though it looks cool).
The only following I see this one recieving is for one of those "ten worst movies shot on video" lists but it's probably too obscure for that.
This movie has it all: cutting edge visual effects, nudity, career-defining performances, blood, and a killer who yells "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO".
If you're looking for a good date film or something for the whole family to enjoy, be sure to check out "555" - the luckiest number in the whole wide world..
Of all the crappy, low-budget, gore-filled, cliche'd and unscary slasher flicks I have seen, there is something that is endearing and fun that makes 555 stand out amidst the other claptrap horror films.The film's title is laughable: 555, and its meaning is even more so: every 5th year, within 5 days, couples "fooling around" are murdered.
I still don't know, even though I've watched the film a few times now.One of the qualities that makes 555 so fun to watch is that you can TELL its been shot on a shoe-string: the cops on the case seem to all work out of one office: its bare, small, and easily a set.
The gore effects ( of which there are many) are gratuitous, at most times very much fake, and the screams from the victims are annoying as sin: you want them to die just so they'll shut the hell up!The actors, all amateur and some looking as if they were borrowed from the local porn studio across the way, all seem to enjoy the material.The lead detective, however, Greg Kerouac, shines above them with his hilarious outbursts and especially his confrontations with a reporter: she calls him an a**hole, and he shoots back with "And you're a c***!" Hysterical.
You can also tell the film itself was shot on a camcorder of sorts.Don't expect to be scared while watching 555.
It's campy, it's low-budget, yet it's also charming, managing to make the viewer care about a few of its characters, a feat which many multi-million dollar Hollywood production can achieve at all.7 out of 10..
Shot on video, this mystery serial killer would seem pretty typical of the '80s slasher genre, except for the cheap sets and the horrendous acting and bad writing.
And I do mean seriously bad, but strangely enough that's what adds the charm to this little ditty.
And, of course, its got sex and nudity and graphic bloody killings and even an attempt at a twist ending,(like anybody cares who the killer is).....
I've seen A LOT of gore movies in my day, but this one just makes me gag with with laughter rather than repulsiveness.
This is definitely a crazy movie and is very low-budget, I might add, but if you're able to look past the cheap audio, horrible dialogue, ugly girls, the obviously fake gore scenes, and overall cheeziness of the film, then you might find some of this film to be somewhat entertaining.
The story is about a copy cat killer who goes on a killing spree every "5th day, of the 5th month, of the 5th year" (wow, how original), and it's up to two detectives (one of whom gave a valiant effort at trying to make the crapy dialogue good) to stop the killer's bloody rampage.
The killing scenes (which are done with a plastic toy knife) are pretty brutal (which is a good thing), but very annoying due to the constant repetition of an obviously recorded scream (which is very ear piercing).
But, if you're a fan of gore videos, like myself, then you'll find something in this video to cherish like I did (the crap-talking detective...he's the best thing going for this film).
Other than that, all you're going to find is a bunch of senseless nudity (which is also a good thing, but too bad the girls are OOOGLY) and a very idiotic hippy necrophiliac serial killer.
While my childhood recalled a dark, slaughterhouse of decapitations and vomit inducing hallucinating gore set pieces, the real 555 film was a cheaply made detective thriller.
While delivering some bloodthirsty set pieces, the movie is mostly known for its VHS cover.
And while I respect the filmmakers addition to the VHS splatter film videography, some experiences are better left on the rental store wall display..
555 goes a good way towards upping the wrongness actually, there's a sexual aspect to most of the killings and the killer likes to bone chicks after he kills them so there's some good filth going on.
The kills are definitely the hook here, cool sleazy stuff with blood spattered breasts (the best kind of breasts), chest carving and even a couple of real nifty gore shots that wouldn't disgrace a mainstream production.
But aside from the killing, this is actually good fun stuff throughout, in fact I watched practically the whole thing sober and was rarely bored and I virtually never watch this kind of thing without regular booze intake.
Sgt. Connor is filth, to put it lightly, a, insanely aggressive and clueless individual who spends the entire film in a state of fulminating verbal violence so intense one expects him at times to blast steam from his ears, and is wonderfully, hilariously captured by one shotter Greg Kerouac (who in a sane world would have gone on to a lengthy and fruitful Hollywood career).
Technical aspects of this one are all perfunctory but doable, director Wally Koz apparently made the film because he thought he could do better than the average no budget trash of the era and recruited various of his family to the effort (yay them!), the results are perfectly reasonable for non professionals and the general ballsiness of the film make their work all the more commendable.
We've all been titillated to the brink by a movie's video box.
I must have passed this movie 200 times during trips to the local mom and pop video store in the 80s before finally deciding I just HAD to check this thing out.The film (woops..
can't really say that, can we?), or video, rather, is surprisingly much worse than one might expect.The plot is extraordinarily complicated (no, I don't mean in an intelligent way) for a production this amateurish.
And the sight of an actor (looking amazingly like John Astin of Victor Kiriakis/Days of Our Lives fame) succo'ing another actress, as well as our villain's knife getting stuck in an actress's prop chest during a kill scene are instant scene classics.
To top things off, the video feel of the movie lends a strangely arousing aesthetic quality (thanks 80s porn!).This is surely one of the great party films (see also: Back from Hell).
And to be honest, if you would like to see the movie in 5 minutes watch the ending, it's a flashback in the killer's mind.
The quality of the movie is okay, sound okay, no hiss, colors okay, black is black and not blue as in many low budgets.
there was nudity and violence for the pure sake of having nudity and violence, and the effects were just so so bad you would not believe it (think ketchup as blood, and cabbages for severed heads).
Filmed on a budget of $5.55.
The video box shows a character who has just had his head hacked off, above the title 555 in a generic font- and against a Pepto Bismol pink background carrying the disclaimer: "Caution: Viewing may cause severe damage to your brain cells".
The titles in the film are even displayed against a matching pink background.
Nor am I making up the scene where the killer bones a girl he has just hacked to pieces, before cast members have to rearrange furniture in the sparsely decorated set to argue about how to solve the crimes and catch the killer, who, incidentally, is described by a witness as a hippie.
Splattery little nothing, the violent kills are basically just someone off camera splashing a dark red liquid onto screaming topless girls, while inserts show a knife stabbing into styrofoam.
It piqued my curiosity then, as a fan of low budget sleaze, and when I finally managed to find a copy of it years later, was I ever disappointed.
I heard of this movie about 5 months ago and i wanted to see it mostly because of the campy title.
When i went into some old video stores and asked if they had the movie, they looked at me as if i was kidding.
I finally got a hold of a copy (and it was very hard) i was expecting a lot more than what it gave me.
I was expecting a very bloody nasty movie with horrible acting.
Well, it gave me the horrible acting but not all the gore i was thinking off.
To sum it all up, buy the movie if you can find a copy AND GOOD LUCK WITH THAT SINCE THERE IS BAIRLY ANY.
This one was pretty dull in some areas and isn't even what I would call a really fun viewing experience, but it does have many impressive redeeming points, including obvious ambition at trying to actually do a somewhat worthwhile SOV horror movie.
Some of the acting was terribly overdone (or not done at all), but most of the acting was good enough to be on par with a lot of Hollywood movies.
The overacting is on par with actors in John Waters movies, and the absolutely horrible non-acting is left pretty much to porno-star types who get offed really fast, so I don't have any qualms there.
Most of the gore is really hokey and obviously fake, but the beheading featured on the box is a stand-out effect because it does look EXTREMELY realistic.
The way they shot the film (mostly through boring wide shots) looks pretty bad and adds to the dullness of the talkier scenes, but even the talkier scenes have their moments, whether they be the "if-this-scene-were-shot-more-professionally-it would-be-really-good" kind of way OR whether they be more of the "Mystery Science Theater 3000" variety.
I think one of the many reasons I'm feeling very generous about my review for this undeniably bad movie is also the fact that I watched "Don't Go in the Woods" right afterward.
That one made this movie look like a classic, and IT WAS SHOT ON FILM!!!
I really think there were a lot of people who worked on "555" that had something most people who make awful horror movies don't have, and that is potential.
If you like goofy, sleazy, gory cheapo horror that's at least somewhat worth your buck, you might see "555".
It is definitely better than the movies those "Blood Cult" people made, as well as MUCH better than a lot of those Brain Damage movies..
555 is one of the best SOV movies I have ever seen.
It's very gory and violent and there are a couple of scenes that are almost unbearable to watch (like when the killer is rapeing a dead girl and when it gets a close up of the knife going into a young girl).
The movie trys to be violent and gory and it really is.
This isn't a movie for the little ones nor for the people who are weak in the stomach to unsettling things.2 out of 4 stars.Contains adult language, adult content, extreme violence, and sexual situations..
This "movie" looks like it was shot with a panasonic palm-corder, and the blood (which there is a lot of) is a clear purple substance.
I was surprised to find this movie at two of my local video stores.
There are a lot of funny parts in this movie that you will be talking about for the next few days.
"555" by Wally Koz tells the story of a sadistic maniac who butchers young couples having sex.After killing the woman our psycho usually rapes her post-mortem.It's up to Sgt.Connor and his partner to find the killer before he strikes again.So every 5 years on the 5th month for 5 days the killer kills one couple a night."555" offers plenty of cheap gore and nudity.The special make-up effects are also well done for the budget that this movie had as they include bloody decapitation,a knife through the throat and various topless girls stabbed in their torsos.The acting is amateurish and the cinematography is routine,but if you are into 80's SOV horror you can't miss "555".6 out of 10..
Unknown director Wally Koz makes an attempt for a horror flick, and for the most part, it kinda works.
The movie was supposed to be bloody and gory, which it is, but I couldn't help but laugh at the cheesy acting and low-budget make-up effects.
First of all, the movie is shot very poorly and the audio is very cheap, just like what you would see in a porno.
The movie is basically about a "the killer" who catches couples in the act of fooling around, so "the killer" does away with them in sickening ways.
Anyway, to sum things up, the movie cover is awesome, the acting sucks, the make-up effects (besides the blood) are pretty cool, and the storyline has some potential.
The movie is pretty rare (a good reason alone to rent it), but if you could find it, give it a try.
I bet that many of you have at times wondered what on earth motivates some of these B movie hacks to go ahead and produce the majority of the plop that has been transferred direct to video over the years.
He stated that after watching countless shoddy horror movies and feeling disappointed with their bargain bucket quality, he had told his wife that he believed that he could make something much better with no previous notable experience.
A psychopathic necrophiliac – now that's something that we haven't seen in the slasher genre before.Next we transfer to the office of the fiery Sgt. Conner (Greg Kerovac) and his partner Detective Haller (B.K. Smith).
They are interviewing the elderly walker from the beach who heard the female victim's final scream before discovering the bodies and also caught a brief glimpse of the killer.
The following night another young couple of lovers are ruthlessly slaughtered, and the detectives uncover a link with a spate of killings that have occurred every 5th month for 5 consecutive nights every 5 years.
It seemed a big surprise that their debut would also signal their departure from the movies, especially when you consider the fact that people like Ashton Kutcher and Sylvester Stallone continue to get work in Hollywood.
One guy gets his fingers lopped off ala The Burning and before he has a chance to scream he is decapitated in arguably one of the top three cinema beheadings ever filmed.
Dressing the killer as a sixties-era hippy may seem like a silly idea, but somehow it only helps to add originality to an offering that was certainly trying to be different from the start.Unfortunately the rest of the cast couldn't live up to the talent that was glowing from both Kerovac and Smith.
It seemed that director Wally Koz re-used an identical pre-recorded scream for each of the female victim's murders.
I guess the bargain basement sets also warrant a mention; especially the Police 'headquarters', which looked more like a refurbished broom cupboard!
An absolutely awful made-for-video horror splatter dud.
A majority of exclusively made-for-video low-budget fright flicks from the 80's invariably stink worse than raunchy old socks.
Gee, could be, man.) Boy, is this mentally unbalanced sicko one real way gone pup: After knifing his female victims, our certifiably crackers killer enjoys making love to their freshly slain bodies.
Too bad this flick is so poorly done; if it had only been made with a modicum of flair and proficiency it could have been a sleazy little gem of a horror exploitation item.
A bunch of couples are being killed and a girl is raped.
Police have only one suspect (Charles Fuller).Bad acting, lousy script, terrible special effects. |
tt1091229 | Chandni Chowk to China | Sidhu (Akshay Kumar) is a lowly vegetable cutter at a roadside food stall in the Chandni Chowk section of Delhi, who consults astrologers, tarot card readers, and fake fakirs despite his foster father Dada's (Mithun Chakraborty) exhortations. When two strangers from China claim him as a reincarnation of war hero 'Liu Shen' and take him to China, Sidhu, encouraged by trickster Chopstick (Ranvir Shorey), believes he will be feted as a hero, unaware of his own recruitment to assassinate the smuggler Hojo (Gordon Liu).
Sidhu travels to China with Chopstick. Along the way he meets Sakhi (Deepika Padukone), the Indian-Chinese spokesmodel known as Ms. Tele Shoppers Media, or Ms. TSM, who also appears in China. Her twin sister Suzy, known as the femme fatale Meow Meow, works for Hojo, not knowing Hojo tried to kill her father, Inspector Chiang (Roger Yuan). Sidhu, through a series of accidents, initially eludes Hojo, but Hojo eventually exposes him as a fraud. Thereupon Hojo kills Dada, and Sidhu is beaten and urinated on by Hojo. Injured and disgraced Sidhu vows revenge. He thereafter encounters an amnesiac vagrant, whom he later identifies to Sakhi as Inspector Chiang. Chiang later recovers his memory and trains Sidhu in kung fu. When Hojo again meets with Sidhu, Suzy injures Chiang; but upon seeing Sakhi, betrays Hojo. Sidhu fights Hojo in single combat, eventually using a modified vegetable-cutting technique to overwhelm him. In the aftermath, Sidhu opens a vegetable stall in China, but is recruited to fight for some African pygmies. The film thereupon concludes with the announcement "To be Continued – Chandni Chowk to Africa". | stupid | train | wikipedia | I think Chandi Chowk to China is a great film and it is fun to watch.
Akshay Kumar is just funny as hell in this film, playing his character Sidhu is just lol.
Director Nikhil Advani and Akshay Kumar are the real stars that have made it a pleasant and interesting movie.
It's really a great entertainer.Akshay Kumar who not only performs Martial arts, also emotes well throughout the entire movie.
now I'm not too great a fan of slapstick, but the manner in which it is preformed makes you laugh nonetheless.The whole movie seems just an excuse for sheer entertainment, which you get in the form of very colourful and stylish scenes and surroundings, a great soundtrack accompanying 'fantasy' scenes in true musical style, and over the top martial arts scenes, which for once are choreographed well.It is a lengthy movie, so if you chose to watch it makes sure to relax and take your time, use that break.
When I was going to watch this movie, I was just hoping that Akshay Kumar has not used the same formula again which he has been using in his recent movies - where he is a stupid, thick, ill fated guy who everyone hates, but still he makes the audience laugh due to the comical nature of the character.
Movie is worth watching, don't go for the story just enjoy the comedy, few scenes in the movie are crap but action of the movie has never been shown in Indian cinema before.
But, gradually you begin to start looking at your watch or at least start yawning!Although Akshay delivers his usual best, it feels he's wasting his talent in such mindless movies.
Its way past the box office time, so this review is for buying DVD and watching it on TV.Okay everyone, people say this film was bad but my friend said it wasn't.
They shoot in China, used REAL Chinese (not stupid fake characters like in some movies) and good actors.
But do blend together well and is fine as long you cut stupid things.Acting - Akshay is good and maintains his comedy like always.
Songs "From Chandi Chowk to China", "Tere Naina", "Sidhu theme" and "Fatte Chak Lende" are energetic and probably the only used songs and have good timings.Direction - I don't know this director, but I don't find him bad.
If you're a fan of Akshay, Deepika, Martial Arts or just want a time-pass film, this is good for Home Video or even watching on internet.
well i just came back from a good house full show of Chandni Chowk To China, well before watching this movie there was one thin clear in my mind that i'm going to watch Akshay Kumar's movie so i kept all the senses back home !
Movie : no story, no screen play, nothing to be looked forward to, in some scenes yeah Akshay Kumar and thats what 3 stars are for...
which sales have already shown Direction : well there are no minuses in here less i will give it -10, nikhil go back to Karan's camp and learn direction first before threatening him, you had all the biggies with you and you have wasted your chance awfullyFew comedy scenes enacted by Akshay Kumar as he is very good in it are worth watching other than that if you want to go and waste your money your welcome !!
I read some critics writing reviews and mentioning about FLAWS in this movie to be very clear, Roger Yuan falls from the Great Wall of China and survives because he was expert in Martial Arts and knew way to land on his feet from great height.
In this very country he comes across the twin sisters Sakhi and Suzy(Both played by Deepika Padukone) who have their own story recipe to be added into the already screwed up CC2C story dish.2009 for Bollywood has definitely started off on a real bad note with CC2C totally disappointing the audience and not even living up to half the level of its expectations.
Can't believe Shriram Raghavan has written the screenplay of CC2C after the movie like Jhonny Gaddar which was an absolute perfection in the screenplay section.I heard Akshaye Kumar saying in one of his interview's- "Leave your brains at home when you come watch CC2C".
it is a great movie with great comedy i know that it is a flop but it still has a great comedy, i guarantee u that akshay kumar will win the best actor award in 2010 it olso has awesome music cc2c is the best song i have ever heard in my whole life, i mean i don't get it that where the movie is wrong and it is bad.
i think this is the best movie i have ever seen because it has great music, action, locations and comedy and the story is olso not that bad.
this makes industry blind to good and experimental scripts and it keeps on churning out Hollywood's garbage with the thinking that our audience like this kind of movie.Now coming back to CC2C, it is one of many travel stories in which Akki baba goes to Alien land to spread the "great Indian culture".
So all I want to say is that all those who are looking for action, watch dubbed Chinese "kangfoo" (I don't know why Akshay pronounce kunfu as kangfoo?).Actors like Ranbir Shauri and Mithun are completely wasted as their roles were stereotyped and boring.
What he actually need is to take a rest and wait for a Script, a real script.So my verdict is: Do something else but don't go to theaters rather I have a better suggestion for you, Watch Sita aur Gita/ Chaalbaaz along with a Chinese martial art movie (Snake in Monkey's Shadow is my pick) at the comfort of your home.
It's an attractive bundle, but ultimately a punishing mess of a movie.Sidhu (Akshay Kumar) is a lowly vegetable chopper looking to change his miserable fortunes on the streets of Chandni Chowk, Delhi.
Caught in the middle of Hojo's grip, attempting to decipher the mystery between near-identical sisters named Sakhi and Meow Meow (Deepika Padukone), and roughed up under the tutelage of Chiang (Roger Yuan), Sidhu goes from boob to brawler as he begins to accept his destiny and learn the way of the fist.Touted as the first Bollywood film to shoot in China, "Chandni" takes full advantage of the phenomenal location, arranging finger-snap-tight fight sequences on the hallowed brick of the Great Wall, and taking an interest in classic martial art cinema revenge mechanics to lend this comedy an unusual edge.
It comes as a shock when the laughs in the film are smothered at the midway point, when "Chandni" suddenly asks the audience for acceptance as a genuine drama.Did I miss the point where I was supposed to care about these relentlessly cartoonish characters?As "Chandni" flails around for what feels like an eternity, indulging Bollywood and martial art staples with gale farce sincerity, the production's generous spirit is readily available, just not properly timed.
For someone to have tremendous actors like Akshay, Ranvir and Mithun and backing of a Hollywood production house, you must really be awful at making films to not be able to pull off even a decent fare.
Ranvir Shoerey too does a good job but when the film itself is bad, performances are overlooked unless they are excellent.Mithun looked funny when he tried his best in the worst of scenes.
As an Akshay Kumar fan you can go and watch the movie but don't expect much..
Chandni Chowk to China is said to be a semi-autobiographical film portraying Akshay Kumar's life before he was an actor.
The action comedy is heavily inspired by the Jackie Chan movies.Although I like Akshay Kumar & Deepika Padukone but I didn't really intend to see the film because I was put off by the dopey promos, dry music and I didn't like Akshay's previous two movies Tashan & Singh is Kinng.
The movie was really daft and insults your intelligence right from start to end and Akshay Kumar's reasonable performance and Deepika Padukone's Chinese look couldn't even save this turkey.Chandni Chowk to China is supposed to be an action comedy but didn't have any action or comedy.
The film's star, Akshay Kumar, has set his sights beyond Bollywood and given himself and his creative efforts to the rest of us and I'm all the happier for it.I have written about Hong Kong films for years on IMDb and have reviewed a few Bollywood films as well, so I was well prepared for this clever mix of action, parody, slapstick, drama, romance, music, song, and kung fu and enjoyed it immensely.
Warning: Excess of lame jokesI was pretty much filled excitement when the movie began, as I like Akshay's performance a lot, his facial expressions and marshal-art skills are pretty good and I usually enjoy his work.
The jokes, I agree with one of the review, are clichéd.Even though, I had nothing to do when I was watching the movie, but still I ended up fast-forwarding it because I couldn't take it anymore.Then I a bit excited when Akshay decided to learn kung-fu and go for revenge, but the climax was also ruined by bad and vulgar jokes..
Musically, only one song from Kailash Kher is the better one among all.Interestingly the film catches up towards its end with some interesting moments when Akshay starts learning the Martial Art. But till then all the major damage has already been done and those few moments are not capable of saving this big Titanic from sinking.
But what is worth mentioning is the cinematography and some of the action sequences.Akshaye Kumar's comic acting is not on to the par as it has been previously in films such as "Awara Paagal Deewana," "Hera Pheri" and "Mujse Shaadi Karogi." Deepika Padukone, who was introduced in "Om Shanti Om," still seems to sticking slightly to her debut film and needs now to re think about the film projects that she would like to work in.
In certain scenes, in this one, she just looks like a doll and needs to move on with her career.I wonder what made Nikhil Advani, director of films such as "Kal Ho Na Ho," his directorial debut and which was a super hit, "Salaam e Ishq," which was not so good as his directorial debut.
The plot was silly and incoherent, the melodrama and comedy was over-the-top, and the movie was too long to top it off.However, I did find some of the comedy scenes quite hilarious and the action scenes were also quite good in an over-the-top kind of way (like "Kung-Fu Hustle").
This movie is to Bollywood what Scary movie is to Hollywood, when seen in that way, Chandni Chowk to China is a 21st century tongue in Cheek take at the popular Bollywood Masala movies of the 70's, 80's &90's (For those who don't know, Masala movies refer to the unique Indian cinematic style of blending Romance, action, comedy, thriller all into one movie).
I was expecting a great movie as it was the first movie produced by Warner Bros, directed by Nikhil Advani (Kal Ho Naa Ho director) and Akshay Kumar (top notch actor with his martial art skills).
Just watched the 1st day 1st show of Chandni Chowk to China, and seriously i think it was a waste if time & money.
The only thing to watch in the whole movie was Akshay Kumar.
Finally must say watch this movie if are a fan of Akshay Kumar and if u love his comedy..
Not only has Hollywood managed to finally get the essence so succinctly and successfully infused it into the animated film Kung Fu Panda, and taking on one of China's icon as its own, India too has shown that it's no pushover now in combining its Bollywood "masala" formula with the martial arts genre, and does so too by snagging the iconic Gordon Liu as lead villain.It's been some time since Gordon Liu fought on screen, and one cannot forget the memorable 36th Chamber movies, amongst others in his filmography.
Deepika carries her roles with aplomb, though between Sakhi and Meow Meow, I thought she would have more fun as the latter since she's given the chance to experiment with some wire-fu, and looks good in dishing out some martial arts moves, not to mention having a funkier wardrobe too.Small town cook to big time hero, that's Akshay Kumar's Sidhu, who's mistaken to be Liu Sheng, a fictional China folk hero and formidable warrior reincarnate.
Given the standard two-half format for a Bollywood film, he spots a bit of a paunch when his Sidhu's a little idiotic, before physically crafting his body into an Iron Man. Chandni Chowk to China has everything - romance, melodrama, kung fu, high tech and fantasy gadgets, even a potato that looks like a god.
Yes,there are some scenes that show Akshay Kumar defying the laws of physics and all but the movie was fun to watch.
I say that if you want to really enjoy this movie, then it is better if you watch it with some Akshay Kumar fans...
The action scenes we're pretty realistic, specially the ones Deepika Padukone performed were very good.The movie was stretched a bit too much but all in all it was a fun movie to watch with family or friends, with some decent comedy and Akshay was good as usual.
Kung-fu has been mercilessly killed, the storyline tries really hard to match to Hollywood fantasy themes, Deepika Padukone is hot as usual and her acting has reached no where since Om Shanti Om, the same holds good for Akshay Kumar.On my return from the movie theater I realized I was better off burning the equal amount of money I had spent.All the best Akshay fans and oh yes, Warner Bros.
good movie time pass akki has done a great jobChandni Chowk to China makes one realise why Akshay Kumar has a space in the industry that no one can tally.
The only good thing in the movie was probably Akshay Kumar.
brilliantly directed action scenes (first time an Indian movie gets Kung-Fu stuff ..
The film's biggest crime, if you ask me, is that it's an exercise in excess.Inspired liberally from Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle, the comedy in Chandni Chowk To China, although largely slapstick, is enjoyable for the sheer good-natured goofiness Akshay brings to his character.The screenplay also spends too much time on secondary characters like Hojo and Chopstick, whose pointless sub-plots only add to the film's daunting length.
The star of the film and really the only reason it doesn't entirely fail, is Akshay Kumar who is in such good form you wish they wrote better material for him.
This movie can even make Akshay Kumar look bad!
The story of the movie is not that great, but off course the presence of Akshay Kumar will make people move towards the halls.
While watching this movie sometimes you feel that CC2C is a mindless comedy film and sometimes you realize that it is revenge drama.
don't waste your time in watching this movie or just watch it for Mithun Chakraborty and Akshay Kumar performances.
I'm not going to be lining up to watch another Akshay Kumar movie any time soon..
Akshay Kumar after the bad but hit SINGH IS KINNG returns with a worser CCTCThe movie is such a yawn feast that it puts you to sleep The story is a mix of SEETA AUR GEETA and SHOLAY and there is hardly any entertainment in the filmFlaws There are big holes in the script.
Miracles never cease to occur, must add.Also the comedy isn't appealing this time around and the film moves at a slow pace The stunts too are poor Direction by NIKHIL ADVANI is terrible, makign SEI look a classic Music is okayAkshay Kumar is as usual, nothing great this time Deepika is decent this time, better then her previous works Ranveer Shorey continues wasting himself in such crap films.
1.)The film's script is shoddy.The 1st hour is okay but it is the 2nd hour that plays as the villain.2.)Considering the fact that the movie is shot in China,the audience just gets to see the Great Wall Of China.3.)The film's promos promises some big laughter.Sadly,the viewer laughs for just 1 or 2 jokes.4.)The action sequences are bland.These are the few things which makes CC2C a disaster.The promos looked terrific and the movie turns out to be terrible.Performance wise-Aakshay is good.Deepika also acts well.Mithun Chakraborty,Ranvir Shorey,Gordon Liu are bland.Overall CC2C is a washout..
I went to watch this movie with my friends...all of us didn't know how or why we were enjoying....the story....was nothing.....the acting great!
All in all, A mindless comedy/action film including Jackie Chan spice except it's an Akshay Kumar movie!.
It becomes a strange occurrence indeed when these two Chinese actors have better performances in a Bollywood film than the two titles stars: Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone.
Dozens of huge problems in believability aren't explained, and the movie sags along to it's finale, hoping the audience won't notice.Overall, Chandni Chowk to China should be avoided by almost anyone looking for even a mindless entertainer, except for die hard Akshay Kumar fans.
No doubt they had the best martial acts action man and current comedy ace Akshay Kumar in the lead, but poor storyline and bad editing makes the journey from Chandni Chowk to China too arduous for comfort with its 154 minutes which felt like four hours.
Chandni Chowk to China is not as bad as Tees Maar Khan but it is probably the worst comedy of Akshay i've seen though it was funny at parts.
Akshay Kumar is a good actor but films like Tees Maar Khan and this brings him down, but now he will rise. |
tt0104822 | Martial Law | The basic storyline is that Sammo Law, a well-respected Chinese cop, is transferred to America. As he works for the police department, fighting crime in Los Angeles, he is met with a clash in culture. He is also the mentor of Grace "Pei Pei" Chen, an undercover officer. When American techniques do not work, Sammo employs some Chinese cop work to get the job done.
=== Season 1 ===
Sammo is sent by the Chinese government to apprehend an old nemesis, Lee Hei (Tzi Ma). He finds out that his disciple, Pei Pei, had infiltrated Lee Hei's criminal empire. His goal is to capture Lee Hei and end his criminal organization. Unfortunately, this plot line was unresolved and Season 1 ended in a cliffhanger, although season two's premiere has Sammo alluding to Lee Hei's death (by way of accusing a one-shot villain of trying to avenge it). Dana Dickson (Tammy Lauren) was initially billed as a main character but left after only a few episodes; it was explained that she had moved to another police force to be closer to her family.
=== Season 2 ===
After Winship's retirement and Louis's transfer to the NYPD, Law decides to stay in Los Angeles and is now partnered with Pei Pei. The department also gets a new captain, Amy Dylan, who thinks that the Chinese way of police work is not the best way of handling things. In addition, there are revelations of a secret society whose members include Law's long lost son. While Law decided to return to China in the last episode, a line of dialogue leaves open the possibility of a follow-up. | revenge, cult, violence | train | wikipedia | null |
tt4707940 | Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho | Sualaal is head of the village, Tanakpur. He is wealthy, chauvinist & impotent. He has married at a late age & his wife Maya is much younger to him. They tend to ignore each other. Arjun a young lad of the village, wins her heart & they meet when Sualaal is not around. Arjun's father gives him lifetime's saving so that he can secure a job in the Police. Sualaal doubts her & since he returns home in an inebriated state he is never able to prove anything. He is nonetheless angry over the fact that his wife mocks him for impotency & having an affair. One fine day one of his cronies spots Maya & Arjun together & he receives severe thrashing for this. On day of his sister's wedding when everyone is at the wedding, Arjun snicks into Sualaal's home to meet Maya. Saulaal when finds Arjun missing from the wedding, immediately heads to his home and severely thrashes him. He is restrained by his cronies, when they tell him that if he creates more chaos people would come to know of his wife's affair. This would bring ill-repute to him. So he decides to frame him in a rape case of his buffalo "Miss Tanakpur". All the evidences are forged & Saulaal wants to make sure that Arjun is severely punished. Initially everyone dismisses this as a sham, but then Sualaal bribes his way & gets the case registered by the police. Arjun is now taken into police custody. This brings shame & grief to his family. His sister's wedding is broken. His father goes on hunger strike & dies in process. The police severely thrashes him & when brought in front of court the judges orders prosecution to present the victim, i.e. miss Tanakpur.
On their way to the next hearing while transporting Miss Tanakapur to the court there is an accident & she is severely injured. In this moment everyone is apathetic towards her, only Arjun being empathetic towards her. On the third court hearing Miss Tanakpur is brought to the court. The judge asks the police to do verification based on identification marks mentioned in the FIR & it is found that this not the real Miss Tanakpur. The judge is angry & admonishes the prosecutor for the farce. It is later revealed that Sualaal had sold off the Miss Tanakpur. With great difficulty they are able to locate her & bring her back to the police station. Meanwhile, Sualaal is not happy with the progress in the court & decides to further inflict pain to his family. He announces as a form of penance Arjun will have to marry Miss Tanakpur. Maya is not able to bear this & offers to expose her husband. Arjun refuses her, saying that the truth would drag her into this murky business & he doesn't want her to suffer similar fate. Throughout the ordeal Arjun is sympathetic towards Miss Tanakpur. On day of the wedding, Saulaal borrows Miss Tanakpur from the police for the night. As the wedding is going on, she runs away & no one is able to trace her. This is a sort of reflection of the care & affection shown by Arjun. On subsequent court hearings the police is not able to produce her, which means that the police officer investigating the case is suspended. In order to exact his revenge, the police officer reveals the truth in the court & Saulaal along with his cronies are sent to jail. Arjun is lucky to be acquitted from the case & all the embarrassment he has faced. | comedy, satire | train | wikipedia | As Good As Political Satire Can Get.
♦ Grade C+.
There's enough realism in the script or at least in its loud inspiration to watch this comedy drama that speaks volumes about the backward mindset in rural India.Arjun (Rahul Bagga) is a loafer who is falling in love with Maya (Hrishitaa Bhatt), a young and beautiful woman married to the foul- mouthed, sexagenarian village chief, Sualaal (Annu Kapoor).
Maya seeks shelter from Arjun and silently finds happiness in him, owing to Sualaal's inability to be a proper husband, with poor performance in bed and verbal as well as physical abuse.
Naturally, when one day, Sualaal finds out about Arjun's illicit relation with his wife, he beats him up and publicly accuses him of raping his award-winning buffalo, named, for FIR purposes, Miss Tanakpur.The story is as wicked as it sounds, which the writers have credited to real-life happenings in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
How a backward system with enough corruption mixed into it treats its men based on ruthless bias is the central topic of the film.
In rural areas like the one shown in the film, the powerful continuously oppress the powerless, even leading to countless fatalities, in some cases.
Arjun's family has to go through a harrowing time once he is arrested: his sister's marriage is disavowed, his father tries to kill himself, and his mother slowly moves to the path of atheism.
It is startling to watch the story, told in a rather clumsy way, unfold in front of your eyes when you know that something like this has happened, or at least, has the merit to happen in today's world.There is enough humor for an average Indian to perceive here.
But, the B-grade shade the film has in its dialogues and slapstick may turn few off.
People's blind faith on idol worshiping, graft among policemen, the judicial system - there's everything in here.
Some very interesting sequences are gelled together to ignite emotions, driven by powerful performance by Kapoor.
Sanjai Mishra and Om Puri are mostly seen fooling around.
Bagga should brush up his blunt areas, and it was good to see Bhatt after a long time.
Ravi Kishan as Sualaal's slavish helper is typecast.I had been stalling this watch for quite a long time, but it eventually proved worthwhile.
A good afternoon watch.BOTTOM LINE: Vinod Kapri's "Miss Tanakpur Hazir Ho" is not a laugh riot, but it proves a point and chafes on the harsher realities of rural India through a comic container.
Rent a DVD.Can be watched with a typical Indian family?
YES.
too straight to be a satire.
Loosely based on a newspaper story coming out of Rajasthan where a young boy was supposedly sentenced to jail for having allegedly raped a buffalo, this film by debut making director Vinod Kapri, is a little too laboriously set-up to provide any laughs.
It plays out like a wildly preposterous ' true' story and the satirical elements are missing.Granted Vinod Kapri would certainly know the veracity of this story considering that he is an award winning scribe from India TV who admittedly has taken his first few steps towards a fledgling career in filmmaking.
In a country where anything goes, it's possible that even this must be happening.Unfortunately the tone adopted to present this unbelievable tale is just not beneficial.The story has been reset in Haryana and Kapri gets all his lead actors speaking in forked Haryanvi-Hindi-English combo that may not sit well with a lay audience.
The Pradhan of Tanakpur, Sualal Gandhas(Annu Kapoor) is especially fond of carving English words out from his traditional Haryanvi tongue.
He has a young wife Maya(Hrishita Bhatt) who is quite careless about being found out while flirting about with a local youngster Arjun( Rahul Bagga) who aspires to be a police hawaldar.The Pradhan who has erectile dysfunction seeks the help of a hakim and a local tantric helps him out with his suspicions regarding his wife's faithlessness.
It doesn't take long for the Pradhan to catch Maya and Arjun in a compromising position and he and his co- conspirators(Sanjay Mishra and Ravi Kishen) are quick to mete out tribal justice.After beating the man up and running a bike over his legs, they tie him to a bullock cart and leave him there for the entire village to see.
They also fabricate a charge of rape- claiming Arjun raped the pradhan's prize-winning bullock, Miss Tanakpur and even have the Tantric(Sanjay Mishra) vouching for it as the sole eye-witness.The farce gets weirder when an FIR is lodged with the conveniently corrupt local thanedaar(Om Puri) and goes all the way to court - wherein the ridiculousness of the entire enterprise is shown up as such.Director Vinod Kapri plays it straight and without any nuance or underlying heft.
So the satire falls flat on it's nose and the socio-political implications are lost in all the noise and confusion arising out of trying to keep the main thread intact.
No doubt, having a bullock play rape victim , is intriguing on paper but on film it's quite off-putting.Kapri neither has the guile or smarts to convey the deep schisms within society that led to such a preposterous incident taking place in the real world.
A little inventiveness and craft combined with some smart writing would have been enough to make this a sharper more gratifying experience.
But alas, Kapri is just not up to the task.
His idea of satire is entirely situation based and loses efficacy because of it.Good solid performances by Annu Kapoor, Rahul Bagga, Ravi Kishen, Sanjay Mishra and Om Puri go a little way in ameliorating the incredulity experienced here!.
Pathetic.
Simply, Absolutely Pathetic!.
why we make movies like this one is beyond my understanding!
Only in India we would make fun of ourselves so badly!!
the makers of this movie, i feel are ashamed to be associated with such a grand country.
the actors in this movie must be desperate for money to have to agree to do such a movie.
I am sure there are better ways to earn money than to sell your soul!
I am sorry to say this but how are the actors of this movie better than people who sell their bodies for money!?
Sheer waste of talent like Mr. Anu Kapoor.
Ravi Kishan is a loser and will always stay this way only.
That new guy rahul bagga and the actors who played his friends, arjun fauzdar and some other guy were extremely bad!
Jobless people doing random work hired by idiots(makers of this movie)!
Burn the prints of this movie.
Destroy all proof that this movie even existed!
I wish I had donated rather than wasted money on this..
Insensitive as buffalo.
I am sure that director does not know the craft.
He is writer himself so there is no question about difference in point of view of scenes with writer.
He made the scenes dull, which could have been undoubted better.
All possible issues have been stuffed in desperate way with out establishing few ones or justifying them.
Director has some weird sense of showing metaphor which always went wrong ,like showing pigeon in cage on roof for showing the helplessness of protagonist but that was kept in the middle of frame so it was looking irritating.
He was throughout confused that either he should approach a particular scene in humorous way or emotional way.
In a scene, where Pradhan tries to collect the excreta of protagonist, it seemed that protagonist is doing his job in front of three person.
Camera was put in between three persons so it was looking that they can see each other, yeah that 15 foot height was ridiculously insufficient to hide them and how they were sure that he will come here only?
Pradhan always uses his SUV, Bolero for his movement but Director shown him going to Thana on a two wheeler just to show that two wheeler is also fitted with red beacon.
It could have been humorous but without establishment it falls flat.
Such type of attempt will make small budget film's path more difficult.
Huge house like Fox Star will loose interest in future small projects.
Performance wise Annu Kapoor and Om Puri are fine.
Sanjay Mishra is very good.
Ravi Kishan is good.
Rahul Bagga as Arjun, is OK.
Hrishita Bhatt as Maya, is unbalanced.
An actress, who has played sister of Rahul Bagga is impressive.
She reflects perfect emotions in every scene..
Remains a realistic but not so gripping, below average comical satire, unbelievably based on a true event..
Prominently publicized as a comic satire with an interesting cast featuring Om Puri, Annu Kapoor and Sanjay Mishra leading the show, the biggest drawback of MISS TANAKPUR HAAZIR HO is that whatever one expects to see or has seen in the promos, it all starts post intermission in the film quite surprisingly.
In other words, the basic satire attempted in the script pointing towards the backward mindset, corrupt system, police, law, courts and village panchayats actually begins in its second half when the viewer is already feeling hugely misled and disappointed watching its initial hour.Reportedly based on 'real life events', the film is set in Tanakpur, a fictional village of rural India (Haryana), where an innocent young boy is falsely charged of raping a buffalo, to hide his ongoing affair with the village pradhan's young wife.
But since it's complete first half gets horribly wasted in all uninteresting sequences, long conversational scenes and not so impressive comedy, the film simply ruins all its chances to make an impact before it even commences talking about its main publicized theme of the strange inhuman rape-case.Mentioning its few merits, though the intentions are all fine and the director does manage to capture the rustic look and feel of the subject along with his noticeable DOP in a couple of effective sequences (like the one when the boy's father is in a well).
Yet it's the script and an all forced comedy that mostly falls flat hampering its overall impact, despite the presence of some engaging moments towards the end, closing on an introspective note.
Moreover the tragedy of the boy's family that happens to be the most hard hitting aspect of the film, sadly gets no major emphasis as it should, probably to avoid any heavy and over-dramatic emotional scenes as it seems.
Plus the over-length of the film stressing unnecessarily at various points doesn't let you feel for its characters right from the beginning.
As a result MTHH neither becomes a powerful satire nor an enjoyable comedy as portrayed in its cleverly edited promos projecting it as an important eye-opener.With a strictly routine soundtrack, the film's background music tries to enhance the progression on screen sincerely and the performances have Annu Kapoor stealing the show as the pradhan, followed by Sanjay Mishra as the fake village 'Godman' fooling everyone around.
Ravi Kissen is just fine in some of his key scenes and Om Puri plays the corrupt police officer with an effortless ease as always.
However Hrishta Bhatt scores in her climax sequence with the buffalo, in an otherwise okay performance playing the pardhan's unsatisfied young wife.In all, it's the unimpressive direction, sluggish editing and all forced humour that doesn't let MISS TANAKPUR HAAZIR HO rise above the level of a below average attempt.
Nevertheless, the film does make you think about the state of life lived in our rural India where still such hard to believe real life events become possible due to the rotten and corrupt system without a spine of its own..
This story needed to be told..
Miss Tanakpur Hazir ho is a satire stressing on the bogus cases being filed in various lower courts.
Vinod Capri, the director claims that the story is motivated by true events which can't be denied as this particular case was highlighted so much by media once upon a time.
It is a movie where politicians use state machinery to extract personal revenge against people.Annu Kapoor playing the role of Sualaal is the head of a village married very late to a young Maya (Hrishita Bhatt) almost half of his age.
Unable to be satisfied by her husband, Maya is attracted to Arjun (Rahul Bagga) who she meets in absence of Sualaal.
Sualaal suspects his wife but unable to prove anything in absence of any evidence.
Once one of his accomplishes spots both of them together and thrashes Arjun left and right.
On the day of his sister's wedding, when everyone is in home, he sneaks to Sualaal's home to meet Maya.
Sualaal finds out and thrashes Arjun with help of his accomplishes.
One of his cronies tells him that if he creates more chaos, people would get to know about his wife's affair and that would bring ill-repute to him.
So Sualaal decides to frame Arjun in a fake rape case of his buffalo "Miss Tanakpur".
He bribes everyone from police to doctor and forges evidence and get the case registered.
Arjun is arrested and sent to jail.
His sister's marriage is broken and his father dies in the process of a hunger strike.
The case is opened in court where the lawyer argues to punish him for raping a holy buffalo.On the next hearing on way to Court, the buffalo meets up with an accident and severely injured.
While everyone is apathetic towards her, Arjun takes care of the buffalo.
On the next hearing, when Miss Tanakpur is brought to court, it is found that this is not the real Miss Tanakpur.
The judge is upset and orders to get the real Miss Tanakpur to court.
Later Sualaal admits that he sold of Miss Tanakpur because she was injured and needed treatment and he wasn't willing to spend money on her.
With great difficulty they manage to locate Miss Tanakpur and bring her back to Police Station.
Sualaal however isn't very happy with the way court proceeding is going on and hence decides to get Miss Tanakpur marry Arjun to bring insult to his family.
Sualaal borrows Miss Tanakpur for one night to get her married to Arjun however, Miss Tanakpur ran away from the home and no one was able to trace her.
On the next hearing learning about all this, judge orders suspension of the investigating Police Officer (Om Puri) who reveals the truth and Sualaal and his accomplishes are sent to Jail.
Arjun is acquitted from the case and let off.During the 135 minutes of the movie, you can see the hypocrisy that passes of as rituals in the village; false police cases to harass poor villagers.
The movie trailer crossed million views on Youtube within just three days of its launch.
With such a small budget, Miss Tanakpur Hazir Ho tried to retain the uniqueness it attempted to show on its script.
The movie could have been better but the story needed to be told by someone sooner or later. |
tt0347332 | Khakee | Maharashtra Police seizes a large quantity of arms from a house in the communal riot torn town of Chandigarh. The house belongs to Dr. Iqbal Ansari (Atul Kulkarni), a Muslim doctor. The police conclude that he is an agent for ISI, and is responsible for engineering the riots. Ansari is arrested and is set to be presented before a special court in Mumbai. However, the convoy of police vehicles transporting Ansari from Chandangarh is ambushed by an unknown group. The police team manages to secure him, but suffers heavy casualties.
The police chief, ACP Naidu (Prakash Raj) assemble a team of five police officers to bring Ansari to Mumbai so that he may appear in the special court for the hearing. The leader of the team, DCP Anant Shrivastav (Amitabh Bachchan), is an honest policeman at the end of a failed career, because he refused to bend for the corrupting forces in the system. He accepts the mission, thinking that his career will finally mean something and he will be promoted to Additional Commissioner of Police in recognition of his efforts and his service. His team consists of Senior Inspector Shekhar Verma (Akshay Kumar), a corrupt cop, rookie Sub-Inspector Ashwin Gupte (Tusshar Kapoor) and two constables, Kamlesh Sawant and Gajanan Mhatre.
Before their departure, the team catches a photographer trying to take pictures of them. He is revealed to be linked to Yashwant Aangre (Ajay Devgan), who is spying on the team. Aangre kills the photographer and his entire family by linking explosives to their telephone's receiver in order to destroy any links the police might discover between himself and the photographer.
When the team reaches Chandangarh, the police receives a call from a school teacher named Mahalakshmi (Aishwarya Rai), who suspects that the people living on school's property are terrorists. The team accompanies the local police to find a corpse in the terrorists' room. When they raid the room, the phone rings, but Anant ensures that no one answers it, and discovers a bomb linked to the phone, set to go off when anyone answered it. He also finds evidence that the group staying there had information about their travel plans, which prompts him to change them.
Back at the police station, Ansari's mother (Tanuja) and son come to see Anant, and plead with him to ensure that Ansari reaches the court, instead of killing him en route. Shocked to hear this, Anant promises her that she will see her son in court. Anant then receives a call from Aangre, who appears to know him. Anant is unable to recognise him, and all attempts to trace the call fail. He hears the voices of his wife and daughter on the line, but it turns out that it is a recording that Aangre played to scare him.
The team, along with Mahalakshmi, leaves for Mumbai by road, only to find the highway blocked by a pile-up. They decide to take a dirt track to bypass the pile-up, but find their way blocked by an extremely crowded cattle fair. While trying to clear a path for the convoy, Anant gets a call from Aangre, who is present at the scene in disguise. Anant spots him and chases him through the fair along with Ashwin Gupte. Shekhar Verma, realising that the place was perfect for an ambush, ensures that no one gets near the van carrying Ansari.
Aangre causes a stampede, and Anant fails to catch him. As the team carries on, Shekhar realises that he left the Jeep unguarded while he was trying to guard the van. He pulls over and sees a bomb attached to the bottom of the Jeep. He makes sure that everyone gets away from it in time, but the Jeep explodes, and the shock wave of the blast causes damage to the van's engine.
The team pushes the van to a secluded house off the highway, where they decide to stay until they repair the van. Anant calls Naidu to appraise him of the events, and tells him their location so that he can send a police team. At the house, as Anant is trying to figure out who the man at the fair was, he remembers Aangre, an extremely corrupt and ruthless ex-cop, who was thrown off the force and imprisoned after Anant caught him killing five innocent men.
The team sees a police van outside, and think that it is the rescue team, but it turns out to be Aangre's men. After a few minutes of heavy firing, which thoroughly depletes the team's ammunition, Aangre's men drop off the body of the constable who was trying to repair the police van, along with a message to hand Ansari over to them. Shekhar, realising that there is no alternative, grabs Ansari and tries to hand him over, but Anant stands in his way. There is a showdown between the two, in which Shekhar accuses Anant of being a useless cop who's going to get them all killed because of his high-minded principles.
The argument reaches a point where Anant and Ashwin have their guns trained on Shekhar. At this point, Ansari breaks down and tells them that the terrorists are there to kill him, not free him. He goes on to reveal that he was an honest citizen living in Chandangarh with his family when a journalist, Bhaskar Joshi, came to him and revealed that the communal riots were actually engineered by minister Deodhar, who killed off a few social workers who had compiled evidence that would've put him in prison for a long time. Bhaskar was in possession of the file containing the evidence, and wanted Ansari to give him the post-mortem reports of the social workers so that he could expose Deodhar. However, Bhaskar was killed before he could do that, and Ansari began to receive threatening calls asking him to hand over the file of evidence against Deodhar. When he refused to cooperate, corrupt cops destroyed his house, killing most of his family, and framed him as a terrorist.
Meanwhile, Aangre and his men enter the house and hold everyone at gunpoint, except Shekhar and Ashwin, who manage to sneak Ansari to the warehouse attached to the house. As his men try to find them, Aangre tells Anant that his idea of revenge is to take away what matters the most to Anant - honour and dignity - because they mean much more to him than his life. Aangre's men locate the warehouse, but when they enter, they see a few LPG cylinders, which Ashwin shoots at from outside, causing an explosion that kills some of Aangre's men. The team manages to get into the police van, but as they're driving away, Aangre manages to shoot Ansari, who gets gravely injured. Anant then receives a call from Naidu, who accidentally lets slip that he knows that Ansari has been shot. Anant realises that Naidu is actually a corrupt cop working for Deodhar, and he was responsible for giving Aangre information about their travel plans at every turn.
The team takes Ansari to a hospital in a small town, where the doctors manage to save him, but declare that his condition is quite serious. Anant tells his team that they're free to leave, since the very people who sent them on the mission do not want them to succeed. He tells them that he has decided to go on right till the end. Shekhar apologises for their showdown the night before, and says that he would accompany Anant right till the end, if only to make up for being a corrupt cop. The rest of the team also decides to go with him.
The local police find out about the team and bring them over to police station, telling them that they have orders to relieve them and take charge of Ansari. Anant gives the officer in charge a fiery speech about how unbelievably corrupt the police force is, and how politicians like Deodhar can get away with anything only because cops like Naidu do their bidding. The officer decides to help them, and tells Naidu on the phone that they've arrested the wrong people.
At this point, Deodhar and Naidu come up with a plan to turn the local public against the police team by declaring in a press conference that the team has gone rogue and is now answering to ISI. Seeing the news on television, several locals gather at the hospital and threaten to kill Ansari. Anant confronts them head on, and tells them that they do not know what the truth is, and are being used by corrupt politicians for their personal gain.
They manage to get away to a railway station, where they're supposed to catch a service train to take them to Mumbai. Aangre and his men arrive on the train, but the team has taken precautions. Constable Kamlesh drives away from the station in the police van as a decoy. Aangre and his men fire at the van, thinking that the team is in it, but Shekhar manages to take control of the train, and the team boards it while engaged in a shootout with the terrorists. Kamlesh stops the van close to the tracks and tries to catch the train, but fails and is shot dead by Aangre.
Upon reaching Mumbai, when Ansari is being carried into the hospital, the doctors realise that he has succumbed to his injuries and died. His mother, thinking that Anant did exactly what she begged him not to do, slaps him in front of a host of reporters before he can explain things to her. The team however, gives Ansari a proper burial, and declare to the media that the case is not over.
Enraged by Anant's statement to the media, Deodhar invites him over and tells him to toe the line, but Anant refuses to bend. Later, the team tracks down journalist Bhaskar's son, who has unknowingly had the location of the file is all along. Shekhar and Mahalakshmi go to the grand post office and recover the file, but Aangre ambushes them. After a fight, Shekhar hands the file to Mahalakshmi and tells her to take it to Anant, while he stays back to fight Aangre's men. However, he is lured into a stadium where it is revealed that Mahalakshmi is actually Aangre's girlfriend and was planted on the team by him to find out where the file is. Aangre's men brutally shoot down Shekhar, but not before he places a call to Anant, letting him know that Mahalakshmi was a double agent.
Anant and Ashwin manage to track Aangre down by following Mahalakshmi. In a shootout, Aangre uses Mahalakshmi as a shield and she dies. Anant chases Aangre and manages to surround him with a large number of cops. Enraged by the horrors Aangre has inflicted, Anant beats him unconscious before he is held back by the police force.
Armed with compelling evidence from the file, the court is able to convict Aangre, Deodhar, and Naidu. On the way to prison in a police van, Aangre sees that the bolts holding his handcuffs are actually loose. Breaking free, he grabs a rifle and attacks the constable in the van. Ashwin jumps out of the van to find Aangre pointing a rifle at him. Aangre pulls the trigger, but there are no bullets in the gun. He puts the gun down and surrenders with a smirk, but Ashwin shoots Aangre twice, and shows him the screws of the bolts, indicating that they were deliberately removed. Ashwin instructs the constable to stage the scene and then calls a senior officer to say that Aangre has been fatally wounded while trying to escape from custody. | revenge, murder, violence | train | wikipedia | The script was pretty cliched and the melodrama and machismo were turned up way too high (actually *everything* was turned up way too high!), but I found it involving and compelling.The production values in the film are extremely high, and it seems that Indian action scenes have really got a lot better over the past few years - still more Hollywood than Hong Kong, and there was too much random camera movement at times, but they were still very exciting to watch.Amitabh is still king, but the film was really owned by Ajay Devgan - he's finally managed to shake off the ZAKHM character in my head (since it was the first role I saw him in, seeing him as anything else always felt wrong to me, but his performance in KHAKEE is now the one he'll have trouble escaping I suspect).Recommended :).
When I walked into the theater, I was expecting a good movie as this movie was directed by Rajkumar Santoshi and boasted of stars Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar and Aishwarya Rai. I came out of the theater spellbounded as I had just witnessed a rare masterpiece of its genre.
It's heartening to see movies like these come out in Bollywood, even with the over-abundance of love stories.
With a strong performance by Akshay,Ajay and Tusshar this makes a great movie for a lazy afternoon.
One of the best scenes has to be the one in the night where everyone has taken shelter during their journey and Akshay confronts Amit, and there onwards the alleged terrorist breaks down for the first time.
Khakee is a good action movie..It is about Dr. Iqbal Ansari who has been accused of being a terrorist, but he is not a terrorist..some of the police are involved with some terrorist gangs who have put weapons in ansari's house, and Ansari who is innocent has been accused of being a terrorist..Amitabh performs well throughout the movie..Akshay performs brilliantly as well..he is good in some comedy scenes..Ajay performs really well in a negative role..these type of roles suit ajay perfectly..tusshar acts well..aishwarya is just okay..she doesn't perform that well..Overall, khakee is a must watch as it contains mostly everything: action, comedy, romance, musical....
Directors like ramgopal varma , rajkumar santoshi are coming with new scripts and trying to present in new style that has never been tried.
movie starts from anant shrivastav(amitabh), an unsuccessful DCP whos is assigned job to transfer a terrorist ( atul kulkarni).
With him in this mission are young, honest tushar kapoor , intelligent but corrupt akshay kumar and aishwarya.
Akshay Kumar has few very good scenes and he has done full justice to them.
Ajay Devgan is not as good as his other movies, may be he is not suited for such roles where he needs to overact as villain.
Amitabh v/s Ajay = A blast, terrific executed film.
Santoshi is so consitent with making good movies and making his performers give career best performances.
The movie is not a routine cop drama or to best of my knowledge its not stolen of any Hollywood movie, but one may have an idea earlier in the film that it kind of looks like Swat but its not like Swat at all.
It is an example of what a nice action thriller should be, it doesn't give its audience time to blink while the movie is going on.
The movie is also a prime example of why Amitabh is till date consider a legend in Bollywood.
The best man in the film was Amitabh B.
The sequences amongst Ajay and Amitabh was so hot and best part of the whole product.
Ajay with great performances one after another, he is sure one of the best emerging actors in Hindi Cinema, if continued with such performances he will be called among the best of all times.(in Hindi Cinema) Akshay Kumar had a career performance in the movie.
Overall, as on behalf of Hindi cinema viewers i would like to urge Mr. Rajkumar Santoshi to make films that's as crafty as this (entertaining).
This political action drama runs 180 minutes, a playing time usually reserved in the States for sweeping historical epics or theater-based musical comedies.
Writer/director Rajkumar Santhosi throws just about every element he can get his hands on into the mix: car chases, hand-to-hand combat scenes, heroes who are dripping with nobility, a villain who wears sunglasses even at night and seems to be lurking around literally every corner, a pair of star-crossed lovers, innumerable plot twists, corrupt government officials, even a couple of delightful but utterly irrelevant fantasy musical sequences in the best Bollywood tradition.
The only good bollywood thriller i've seen in a long time.The movie is fast paced,stylish & has some fine performances from the main cast.Though there was no need of songs,its good that there are just 3 short songs..
At the end of the day, Ajay Devgan was good.
I wld urge you to watch this movie for Amitabh Bachhan Overall grade 10/10..
At the end of the day, I wld urge you to watch this movie for Amitabh Bachhan Overall grade 8/10..
An over 2 and a half hour entertainer, this film promises to keep you over the edge.The concept is simply amazing, with superb acting on the apart of all actors, mainly Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn, music is melodious and dialog delivery thunders throughout the film, with amazing fast paced action sequences.Story is about a police team that is given the mission of escorting a deadly terrorist to Mumbai with ISI aides behind to release him at any cost.
Akshay Kumar's performance is definitely commendable, and is probably the next best actor to Amitabh Bachchan.Don't miss Khakee.
Passionate police officers on there duty to uncover and arrest the mafia.A master piece performance by Akshaya Kumar and Big B with a resisting performance from Ajay though in villain role.
Another incredible performance after Sangharsh making his performance in Khakee his career-best.A movie to be watched in cinemas but not on a DVD unless u have missed the last show..
The day of his daughter's marriage is also approaching very near & suddenly he got the assignment from his superiors that he has to supervise the team of a small task force for the very purpose of presenting a terrorist(Atul Kulkarni in the movie)safely in front of Judiciary.
Amitabh is of course a team leader, Akshay Kumar is there who is corrupt and lady killer kind of guy and there is Tushar, a new cop with honesty and enthusiasm to do something big for the nation and system and also there are few more constables.
About Bacchan I must say Khakee remain always his comeback movie which recalls me of his angry young man days.
In fact the film boasted of a fine performance from Amitabh, Akki was decent, Ajay was very good - after a long time I saw him in a convincing role that he played extremely well.
Most notably, Akshay Kumar's performance was highly entertaining and added a comic element to the movie.
Ajay Devgan played a convincing and worthy antagonist, while AB, Aish, and Tushar Kapoor did quite well.The blame for this movie not being an incredible one goes to the writers.
Khakee is the one of the best work of bollywood movie makers.
Khakee is not a newly created story, we have seen many films on that type of story, but the main reason of success of this movie is the art of direction and the actors casted in this movie are experienced except Tushar Kapoor.
The focused characters were Anant Shrivastav (Amitabh Bachchan), Angre (Ajay Devgan) and Shekhar (Akshay Kumar).
The man in totally form Mr. Amitabh Bachchan is done a brilliant job, his experience in acting talks.
Ajay Devgan is not taking any chances to give bad performance.
On the whole, this movie is good package of entertainment with lovely melodies by RAM SAMPAT.
The film has a solid screenplay and the three hours it took to unfold pretty much flew by.What seems to be a routine errand of transporting a terrorist from Chandangarh to Mumbai turns into a nightmare when the police team is ambushed and killed.
Ram Sampath makes a decent debut composing songs that belong to the popular genre.Every actor in the film – be it Amitab, Tushar or even Ashwini Kalsekar – is given at least one scene to prove his talent.
Santoshi extracts the best performance from his cast and many have even won the coveted national awards for his films (Sunny Deol, Ajay Devgn, Anil Kapoor).
Santoshi wanted to cast Aishwarya Rai in "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" but she was already on board the rival film "23 March 1931: Shaheed", so Amrita Rao stepped in.
She finally gets her chance in a male-dominated film in a meaty role and she does prove to an extent and stands out.
Ajay Devgn is a regular name in Santoshi's films and he gives a true villainous performance.
Atul Kulkarni delivers a fine performance.Another fabulous aspect of the film is the production design by Nitin Chandrakant Desai.
Akshay Kumar's character was just great as a cop, he really suited the role and played it really well, Aishwarya was just amazing played her role really well in the movie not to mention that she looked fantastic and i loved the music, and she danced well as always in her films .Ajay played his part very well too as a villain and Big B was great too in the film ,the only thing that put me off was Tushaar Kapoor,i can't stand him and they should have casted someone else instead cause he just can't act.You must check this movie out, it is just great..
The movie has some excellent action sequences, incredible acting from Atul Kulkarni and Amitab Bachchan.
AK, AB, and Santoshi, Action by Tinnu Varma should win awards and this movie is a representation of the evolving rebirth of Indian Cinema from the decadance..
Be it the Big B, Ajay Devgun, Akshay, Aish, Tusshar and even the one-scene character artists - they have all done commendable work.Well, do watch it though...ONCE.
I say this a super-hit film because it gives the whole audience a really strong and powerful message and meaning of policemen the songs are excellent as you can keep on listening to the songs direction is superb story-line is brilliant I love the fighting action scenes too thee were brilliant and worth watching akshay did do well Amitabh did fabulous Ajay does good in his 2nd negative role after deewangee other did well my rating 5/5 or 10/10 stars.
Cop thriller films are very usual in bollywood cinema, and it's has been given in various angles as well.
Before this film, ajay did a supreme negative role once in deewangee which turned out to be a blockbuster hit, thus he won numerous awards and encouragements as well.
In Khakee, ajay plays a devious cop who vows to take revenge on anant (amitabh).
Even though he plays the role of a villain in this film, he is a key point in this movie.
Amitabh Bacchan, akshay kumar are also in sublime touch in this film
You assume the prisoner escaped...but in the next scene you learn he hasn't and they want Anant (Amitabh Bachchan) to leave his post teaching at the police academy and be responsible for moving this dangerous prisoner.
Well worth seeing and I especially liked seeing Bachchan's character being not so perfect in this one...an older man who isn't supposed to be in his prime.Oh, and incidentally, Bachchan's real-life daughter-in-law to-be, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, as well as Askay Kumar co-star in this film- -giving it a rather impressive cast..
Amitabh had too much of the spotlight, and as a consequence, Aishwarya, Ajay Devgan, and Tusshar's characters were not as well developed as they could have been.
It looked like a khakee filter was used throughout the movie, making the frames, that were already very monotone with police uniforms, even more monotone.
After The Legend of Bhagat Singh, RajKumar Santoshi again got 5 star for his movie and he is now on the Hattrick chance.
Everything was too perect in this film i.e. direction, sets, costumes, choreography, cinematography, performances, dialogues, screenplay, actions, editing everyhting everything was excellent.
Amitabh as a main protagonist gave best performance of his career, Watch this movie and you wil forget all his cops movie including zanjeer.
Akshay Kumar is best as a supportive and ditto can be said for him as I said for Amitabh.
Ajay Devgan the master performer, best villainous performance of his career after deewangee and he was the only one who could stand infront of Amitabh and could do a conflict with him.
Tushaar proved that if he gets a good director he can delivers his best and he got the good in the shape of RajKumar Santoshi.
Battle of Good against Bad. The movie starts with police catching a dreaded terrorist Iqbal Ansari.
Ajay Devgan (Yashwant Angre, a Former Police Officer turned Terrorist), Mahalaxshmi (Aishwarya), ACP Naidu (Prakash Raj), Minister Deodhar (Sabyasachi Chakravarthy) are the peoples who don't want them to return.
But finally good prevails upon bad and DCP Anant Srivastav wins the battle.Produced by Keshu Ramsay and Directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, the movie has a nice story written by Santioshi and Shridhar Raghavan.
Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai...
Without going too much into the story as there are other user comments which describe the storyline pretty well, I want to say that this is probably one the best wholesome entertainers I have seen emerging from Bollywood and Hollywood.
The scene where an angry mob wants to stop the policemen from taking Ansari and Amitabh Bachchan confronts them.
The scene in the jeep where Akshay hits on Aishwariya is also impeccable.There is something about the film that really makes you a part of the ongoings.
The film really needed some excellent performances to get the message through.
Tusshar Kapoor surprised and gave a good performance especially in the scene where he gives the news of the constable's death to his wife.
He was also good in the scenes where he bickered with Akshay Kumar.
Last but not least, Akshay Kumar together with Amitabh Bachchan was the lifeline of the movie.
Santoshi makes the film a classic actioner if not a masterpiece..
Another trademark Rajkumar Santoshi film, characterized by sterling performances, coupled with top-notch direction.
This is what you expect from a Rajkumar Santoshi film.Story is the routine police drama, with some surprises thrown in.
An honest police officer, Amitabh Bachchan, on the verge of retirement, is sent on a suicidal mission to escort a terrorist (Atul Kulkarni), to Mumbai.
Accompanying him is a team consisting of a corrupt, but brave police officer (Akshay Kumar), a rookie inspector (Tushar Kapoor) and 2 constables, all the while chased by a gang of terrorists led by Ajay Devgan.
2. The scene where Ajay Devgan and his gang has the team hostage.
4. Amitabh Bachchan's meeting with the CM.Everyone has acted well in the movie.
Akshay Kumar's run of super-roles started with this movie.
It is probably his finest role-to-date.Don't miss watching this movie!!!!
Short of it:*Enjoyable*Better then most Bollywood movies (and Hollywood movies for that matter)*Good performance _BY ALL_*Thrilling (leaves you with your mouth open at times) lots of twists*Drags near the end (God!!
When will the movie end?) _BUT_ the ending is WOW*One complete hour without any song*Ajay Devgan has matured (You have to be good more then once before someone says you have matured as an actor)*Has the obvious minor problems with continuity and weakness of plot at times.As the cliché goes 'last but not the least' *Aisa Jadoo ;-)If you can tell the story of a Hindi movie one hour into the future because you have seen a lot of then there is not spoiler here otherwise --A lil Spoiler--I liked the fact that Minister Deodhar alludes to Modi the CM of Gujrat.
Rajkumar Santoshi's one of best films.
RKS has made several great films like Ghayal, Damini, while GHATAK too was good, He made TLOBS with Ajay Devgan giving him a national award KHAKEE is the first time he works with BIG B and the film was hyped a lot and people expected a lot from the film.
The film starts off well, the director tries to establish most characters possible though he does stick to clichés too like Angre's character could be better, even ther eare lot of clichés and filmy dialogues yet the film is hardhitting, especially when AB fights against the system, the attack on the cops while going to chandangadh though at times there are some filmy stunts which look odd.
The film also suffers due to the forced song and dance yet must say this is one of the best cop films in bollywood.
The twist at the interval and at the finale do shock you too.Direction by RKS is great Music seems forced though VAADA RAHA is goodAmitabh Bachchan is simply outstanding in the role, the trauma, pain is all well brought out, his scenes in the police station, his confrontation with ANGRE are all fantastic.
Akshay Kumar's comic bone got noticed in this film and after this in MSK, he is simply terrific in his role though at times his role does tend up to be silly yet he is also fab in the dramatic and emotional scenes, his pre interval clash with BIG B is superb and also his pre climax scene.
Ajay Devgan does get a clichéd role but he is superb in his negative role again after Deewangee, his face offs with BIG B are simply outstanding.Tusshar is sincere though at times his dialogue delivery does seem forced. |
tt0037702 | Flame of Barbary Coast | Naive Montana cowboy Duke Fergus (John Wayne) arrives in San Francisco and visits the notorious Barbary Coast. He becomes smitten with the lovely star attraction of the fanciest gambling hall, "Flaxen" Tarry (Ann Dvorak), the "Flame of the Barbary Coast". He gets talked into gambling against the owner (and Flaxen's lover), card shark Tito Morell (Joseph Schildkraut). Predictably, Fergus gets cheated and loses all his money.
He sets himself to win Flaxen's affections and decides the best way to do it is to take over. He gets his friend Wolf Wylie (William Frawley) to teach him everything about gambling, including how to spot cheating. When he's ready, he sells all he owns and returns to the city to challenge Morell's rule of the Barbary Coast. He goes from casino to casino, challenging each one's resident poker champion to a heads-up game, starting with Morell. Duke wins every time.
Fergus then builds an opulent new gambling establishment, catering to the upper class. To make it a success, he needs to persuade Flaxen to come work for him, but she is initially not interested. Only when Morell offends her does she decide to accept Fergus's offer. And then the fireworks begin. Morell does not take the challenge lying down. In the midst of it all, the Great Earthquake of 1906 strikes, both Fergus' and Morell's businesses are destroyed, and Flaxen grievously injured. They rebuild and recover. Throw in a political battle, and someone gets the girl. | violence, romantic | train | wikipedia | Flame of Barbary Coast finds John Wayne as a visiting cowboy from Montana who makes and loses a fortune in a night and goes home busted.
He also finds the love of his life in Ann Dvorak, an entertainer at Joseph Schildkraut's place on the Barbary Coast.Schildkraut figures that Dvorak is his personal property.
As this is Republic Films and not Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer, the special effects are nice, but not near as good as those from MGM.
Yates could afford.The most interesting member of the cast is Schildkraut, a scion of the old Spanish aristocracy who's chosen to make his living on the Barbary Coast in the dens of iniquity there.
He's as in love with Dvorak as Wayne is, but likes his power and notoriety more.Yates took some liberties with San Francisco history in this one.
The MGM San Francisco did not bother mentioning any of the local political figures of the day, but Flame on Barbary Coast did and got it wrong.
Still the Duke's legion of fans will love him in this one and others will like Joseph Schildkraut..
Learn How To Make A Movie; Watch Flame of The Barbary Coast.
Actually, the cast is quite good and anyone interested in directing or photographing a movie should learn from the film.
Who cares if Ann Dvoraks singing was a little off, and who cares if John Wayne tried his hand at singing on a horse?
This movie is just good old fashioned campy entertainment with no foul words, no nudity, and in many ways the bad guy won when he said, "With Compliments of the House!" Anybody who doesn't like this movie is an old grumpy!.
All I cared about before watching the movie was that it was a western with John Wayne in it.
Duke Fergus (John Wayne) takes lessons from his professional gambler friend, Wolf Wylie (William Frawley), and ends up beating the professional gamblers in their own casinos.
Added to that is his love interest in Flaxen (Ann Dvorak), known as "the Flame of the Barbary Coast", who apparently has teased virtually every powerful man in town.
At the time of the story she is tied to Tito Morrell (Joseph Schildkraut), the most successful and notorious of the gambling house bosses.I liked the way Joseph Schildkraut played the classy, but devious, casino owner, Tito Morrell.
John Wayne's character, Duke, never came across as simple.
The time placement was subtle in the beginning and made perfectly clear as it became more important to the plot.I expected the climax of the movie to be the famous San Francisco earthquake.
The catalyst that brought about changes in San Francisco set up the final scenes for the main characters.
The true nature of everyone is shown in a final showdown between Duke, Tito, and Flaxen.I liked Flame Of Barbary Coast.
My only complaint is that the movie makes the Barbary Coast seem to be the most important part of San Francisco, and it is the only part of the city that is shown.
Joseph Schildkraut for the heart of Ann Dvorak and dominance of the San Francisco gambling scene.
John Wayne, Duke Fergus, is tagged "King of Luck", after breaking the bank in several casino saloons with the help of Ann Dvorak, as Ann 'Flaxen' Tarry, who says, "You've just been promoted".
The real gem of this movie is Joseph Schildkraut, as Boss Tito Morell.
But Tito is the one who really loves Flaxen, and always holds back from resorting to "fixing" The Duke as his cronies want to do.
And talk about obsession: the suitors of Flaxen still hang around even when it seems she will be paralyzed for life after the Great Earthquake (did San Francisco really have electric poles in 1906?!)--they hope the old trooper will return to the stage and awe their hearts, not to mention their libidos!
As Flaxen is whisked off in Duke's carriage to Montana, Tito has the best line: "Compliments of the House".....
Happy-go-lucky Montana rancher John Wayne comes to San Francisco, wins and loses a fortune in a night, and begins a competition with a sleazy gambling-hall owner for the heart of singer Ann Dvorak.
After some lessons from aging card-shark William Frawley, he comes back to town to win back the money and the girl.Another of the Duke's lightweight, nineteen-forties Republic pictures, this okay romantic melodrama features a likable Wayne performance, some fairly lavish sets and costumes, and a neat low-budget recreation of the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906.This isn't the greatest or most memorable of John Wayne vehicles, but it's not the worst either..
These two slides in the power point show the lines that were present then.I think that the level of electric service shown in the film was a little advance for 1906, most would not pick upon that.
Just think what kind of movies John Wayne could do in 2005 with just a few of today's effects.
"Duke Fergus" (John Wayne) is a cowboy traveling from Montana to the Barbary Coast of San Francisco when he happens to meet a young woman named "Flaxen Tarry" (Ann Dvorak) along the way.
He also meets a man by the name of "Tito Morrel" (Joseph Schildkraut) who happens to be in love with Flaxen and owns the nightclub where she works as a singer.
Although Flaxen helps Duke win a small fortune that night gambling, he soon loses all of his money to Tito in a card game and has to go back to Montana completely broke.
Lesser John Wayne vehicle with Duke playing a character named...Duke.
Set in early Twentieth Century San Francisco (a popular setting for many movies made during the classic Hollywood era), Duke plays a gambler who falls for a saloon singer (a miscast Ann Dvorak) and crosses swords with accented villain Joseph Schildkraut, who believes the lady belongs to him.
Dvorak, about ten years past her prime (career-wise not looks; she was still lovely) was a poor fit for a sultry singer that turns men's heads.
Dvorak also has remarkably little chemistry with John Wayne.
The villain in a John Wayne movie needs to be intimidating.
A, Dvorak pretty, and never acquired big star status, but most likely, one that the Republic studio could afford and Virginia Grey, Clark Gable's girl friend for many years." I Love Lucy"'s landlord has a comic turn here.
Nominated for two Academy awards for music and sound, this romance is a lightly entertaining drama about a Montana cowboy who arrives at a notorious section of San Francisco to collect.
John Wayne and Ann Dvorak give glint in the eye performances, if slightly less than fully committing, but it surpasses its B-Movie status thanks to Joseph Schildkraut's performance as Morell, the casino owner, who stands out with his nuanced performance, scheming, yet respectful.
Musically it is charming with a handful of pleasant show numbers and there are some good effects depicting the 1908 San Francisco earthquake which raises this melodrama by half a notch to average viewing..
In 1936 MGM made a marvellous film called "San Francisco" about a saloon owner and his romance with a singer set around the 1906 earthquake.
In 1945 "Flame of Barbary Coast" takes the same characters and even the same setting.
But this time instead of Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald, we have John Wayne and Ann Dvorak.
Wayne is awful playing a character called "Duke", but he is "Olivier" in comparison to the woeful Dvorak.
For example:After the earthquake Wayne meets Schildkraut in the tent city that has been set up.
Dvorak takes Wayne on a tour of all the gambling houses and, despite the protests of all the owners, only has to wink at the dealers for them to allow Wayne to win $16,000.
"John Wayne,a pretty girl and an earthquake - phew!".
If you want to see John Wayne paddling in the Pacific Ocean with his boots off this may be your only chance.Pleasingly named "Duke" in "Flame of the Barbary Coast",Mr Wayne cuts a fine figure amongst the stone gamblers in the casinos as he goes to the big city to collect a debt from saloon owner Mr J.Schildkraut(looking unnervingly like TV's Sherlock Holmes Jeremy Brett).The two men turn out to be rivals for the hand of Miss A.Dvorak as chanteuse Flaxen Tarry.
This is a movie full of energy and movement.As Duke and Flaxen tour the gambling houses,winning - courtesy of her preventing the croupiers from cheating - a large wedge, they are followed by an increasingly noisy entourage like a conga line,bustling with excitement.Arriving back at Schildkraut's casino,Duke flashes his cash and buys everybody drinks.
The next morning he ill - advisedly accepts Schildkraut's challenge to a game of Stud and is cleared out,left only with a return ticket to Montana.Undeterred and in lurve with Flaxen,he takes poker lessons,sells up his herd and - with his card - coach on hand - returns to San Francisco to win his money back and his gal at the same time.
Republic make a surprisingly good fist of the 1906 earthquake,Flaxen is photogenically injured and Duke takes her off to Montana to get the good country air into her lungs.Mr Schildkraut is surprisingly sporting about the whole thing.Put this way,the movie might seem a little bit frothy and trivial,but it is given body by the performances of the leads,Mr Schildkraut in particular in a role that might have been written for Clark Gable,a charismatic mixture of charm and menace.
Perhaps not writ large on Mr Wayne's C.V.,"Flame of the Barbary Coast" is nevertheless an enjoyable,well - made and worthwhile movie.In it one can see the nascent wry,stubborn and sometimes wrong - headed persona Mr Wayne was develop so successfully and use for the rest of his career..
In Republic's musical remake of "San Francisco", the songs are mostly handled by Ann Dvorak, although Virginia Grey also has two or three.
This turn-of-the-century John Wayne adventure epic, "The Flame of the Barbary Coast," amounts to little more than a thoroughly average but nevertheless entertaining saga about gambling in San Franciso and the rivalry between the hero and the villain for the affections of the eponymous heroine who towers about all else as the star singing attraction.
Director Joe Kane never lets things get out of hand with a 92-minute running time, and the limited use of special effects to depict the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was pretty cool.
Long-time John Wayne stock company character actor Paul Fix plays a villain, while William Frawley is cast as a close friend of our hero who learns the basics of poker..
Romance, gambling, and natural disasters mix in this John Wayne comedy.
FLAME OF THE BARBARY COAST is a light romantic comedy featuring John Wayne in a starring role butting heads against chorus girl Ann Dvorak and eventually falling in love with her.
As with the other Republic westerns I've seen that Wayne made in the 1940s, this one has a likable lightness of touch that makes it a lot of fun to watch, and entertaining throughout.The theme of the movie is gambling and the various gambling interludes are handled in a well-paced way.
Joseph Schildkraut makes for a thoroughly imposing villain and his acting is of a much better class than is usual in a picture like this.
The film even manages to cram in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake as a sub-plot and the special effects in this scene are great fun.
The story takes place in San Francisco at the turn of the century, and I should have picked up on the date when it was mentioned but I never gave it a second thought.
It was the year of the great earthquake, 1906, and it figures somewhat prominently during the latter part of the picture, though it couldn't shake Duke Fergus's resolve to win the trophy he came back for.His nickname was the Duke, and even though he didn't use that name in very many of his pictures, John Wayne was Duke Fergus in this one, a Montana cowboy who wins and loses a small fortune of sixteen thousand dollars on his first trip to San Francisco to collect on a horse trade.
A newspaper reporter from the San Francisco Star called him the 'King of Luck' when he cleaned up at the Eldorado, and then partied his way up and down Pacific Street with winning hands at the competition.
Smitten with saloon gal Flaxen Tarry (Ann Dvorak), Duke winds up leaving town with a vow to return and make his mark after Tarry's main man Tito Morrell (Joseph Schildkraut) busts him at the poker table.It was cool to see William Frawley here as Duke's sidekick and gambling mentor Wolf Wiley.
Speaking of which, actor Marc Lawrence probably has one of the shortest ever credited film appearances here, actually counting down his thirty seconds of screen time before the Duke shoots him for dirty dealing.Well the love triangle, if you want to call it that, between Flaxen, Tito and the Duke will keep you guessing how it will turn out right till the very end.
It's certainly fitting that Wayne is top-billed in FLAME OF BARBARY COAST.
Ann Dvorak co-stars here as Flaxen (a.k.a., Ann), the serial "beard" for nearly every rich "eligiable bachelor" in Old San Francisco, posing as the fuel for Wayne's title character "Flame" (at least for public consumption).
To drive home the point that FLAME is a thinly-veiled take on the Real Lives of the West Coast "Elite" of the Mid-1900s, screenwriter Borden Chase insists upon naming Wayne's character after his Real Life LITERAL "pet" name, Duke Morrison.
I love old Hollywood films, like this, but this movie was flat and uneven.
I was really hoping for a good mix, between 1935's Barbary Coast & 1936's San Francisco; but I didn't get that.
Directed by Joseph Kane, Flame of the Barbary Coast tells the story of a Montana cowboy named Duke Fergus(John Wayne), whom came to turn-of-the-century, San Francisco in hope, of finding fame and fortune.
He attempt this, by trying to outsmart, a crooked casino owner, Tito Morell (Joseph Schildkraut) out of his money.
Can 'the King of Luck' find a way to beat the house in cards or will Tito, gain the upper-hand and leave Duke to broke?
Without spoiling the movie, too much, I have to say, the first half was very entertaining, however, after the scenes, dealing with the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake; the film really lost focus.
The movie plays it, off, that he trying to help, the people of San Francisco, to reclaim, their streets, after years of corruption, but it comes off, as another way to seek vengeance on Tito.
It's seem like, Duke is just doing this, to gain, the heart of singer/dancer 'Flaxen' Tarry (Ann Dvorak).
Still, John Wayne did alright in the role, he was given.
However, I think, the villain in the film, Tito seem more like the good guy, than Wayne's character.
I love Joseph Schildkraut's acting in this.
If anything, the true bad guy in this film is Ann Dvorak's character, who comes across as materialism, greedy, and seductive.
John Wayne sound like a drunk yokel, when singing.
It's really, out of character for a John Wayne's western to have little to no fist-fights or gunplay.
Film is certainly worth a watch for any John Wayne's fan, but has limited lasting appeal to anybody else..
There are obvious parallels between the plot of this Republic film and the previous MGM "San Francisco.
Both involve a self-made Barbary coast kingpin, a prime female entertainer, and an ending precipitated by the 1906 earthquake and fire.
These include: "Frisco Kid(1935), "Barbary Coast"(1935), "Hello, Frisco, Hello"(1943) , and "Frisco Sal", released the same year as the present film.
Tito Morell, in the present film, is equivalent to Clark Gable's 'Blackie' in "S.F", both being self made men, with greater ambitions than their present casino on the Barbary Coast.
Ann Dvorak, as Flaxen, is equivalent to the role of Jeanette MacDonald in "S.F." There is no exact equivalent for John Wayne's character in "S.F." although the nob hill crowd, who want to take Jeanette away from Blackie for their opera house is reminiscent of Wayne's role here in trying to lure Flaxen away from Tito's casino, to his brand new casino.
It's saying that Tito and his casino belong here, whereas Wayne belongs back on his Montana cattle ranch, he misses so much.
Considering it's a John Wayne film, it already earns a respectable score from me.
Aside from his early B-movies and a few horrible mistakes ("The Green Beret" and "The Conqueror" come to mind), any John Wayne film is worth seeing.
However, "Flame of the Barbary Coast" is certainly among his lesser starring efforts.
I think part of this is because Wayne's bigger than life persona really isn't fully evident in this film--in fact, he seems like a bit of a chump in this one!
The film begins with Wayne coming to the Barbary Coast (a rough section of San Francisco) from Montana to collect a debt.
However, he takes one look at 'Flaxen' (Ann Dvorak) and is instantly smitten--and spends much of the rest of the film following her about like a love-sick puppy.
This one, however, spends most of the movie trying to one-up her unscrupulous boss (Joseph Schildkraut) and build an even bigger gambling casino where he wants the chanteuse, Flaxen, to perform.
The script is only fair and Wayne's support is sometimes weak (Dvorak and Schildkraut--who came off as too wimpy to be a good foil)--though William Frawley is very good in his role as Wayne's friend and mentor.
If you aren't, then it probably won;t do much to impress you.By the way, this is one of several films that portray the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.
Considering the film was made by a low-budget studio (Republic), its special effects were pretty good but not nearly as nice as films such as "San Francisco" by MGM or "Frisco Jenny" by Warner Brothers. |
tt0126234 | Chamatkar | Sunder Srivastava (Shah Rukh Khan) is a young graduate. His main ambition in life is to fulfil his father's dream of starting a school on his half-acre property in his village, though he has no funds to execute his plans. Sunder's childhood friend Prem, a seasoned conman in Mumbai, convinces the gullible Sunder to mortgage. When Sunder comes to Mumbai, he is first tricked and loses his luggage, then pick-pocketed and loses his money. He then finds that Prem tricked him and fled to Dubai with his money. Sunder is forced to take shelter in a cemetery. Sunder starts cursing his stars and venting his anger. A voice responds to him and a surprised Sunder asks the person to identify himself. The source of the voice, who cannot be seen, is surprised and asks Sunder whether the latter can really hear him.
Sunder realizes that he has been talking with a ghost and panics. The ghost suddenly becomes visible to Sunder and introduces himself as Amar Kumar alias Marco (Naseeruddin Shah). Marco tells Sunder that only he can help Sunder and vice versa. Marco tells his story. Marco was an underworld gangster who fell in love with one Savitri Kaul (Malvika Tiwari), daughter of one Mr. Kaul (Shammi Kapoor). Savitri declined to marry him if he did not change his ways. To show that he was serious, Marco resolved to give up crime. This did not bode well for his protégé Kunta (Tinu Anand), who wanted to become as big as Marco himself. On his wedding night, Marco was kidnapped and killed by Kunta, after which he was buried in the cemetery. Marco tells Sunder that many crimes taking place in the city under his name are actually done by Kunta and his minions.
Marco tells Sunder that due to his sins, he cannot attain redemption. Marco was foretold that only his savior would be able to see and hear him, so Sunder has to help him. Sunder declines, but Marco surprises him by reminding him of his dream, about which Sunder had not told a thing to Marco. Marco tells him that he wants to see Savitri and Mr. Kaul. He also tells that he cannot touch or harm anybody until time comes. Marco manages to get Sunder a position as a cricket coach in a school run by Mr. Kaul. Marco is angered when he finds out that after his murder, Kunta and his goons came to the Kaul household and told Savitri that Marco was alive and had fled India never to come back, suggesting that Marco only married her in order to sleep with her. Kunta had told them that Marco wanted Savitri and her father to hand over the ownership documents for his hotel to Kunta, but Savitri refused to hand them over unless Marco himself came to ask for them. Kunta then tried to rape Savitri, but was stopped when her father broke down, promising to give them the documents. Hearing all of this, Marco is furious and vows revenge. He is grieved to then find out that Savitri died some time afterwards, but overjoyed when he learns that he has a daughter from the wedding night with Savitri called Mala (Urmila Matondkar).
Sunder and Marco also find out that the school lacks funding and that Kunta is trying to usurp its land. Mala and Sunder start falling in love. Marco helps and keeps Kunta's goons away. Later, Marco shows a secret room to Sunder where he had kept all his loot. The room was not known to Kunta or anybody else, so Marco proposes that an anonymous donation be made, which will be more than enough to save the school and help Sunder. However, due to their oversight, Kunta finds out the location of the room, and Marco loses all his money. In a desperate bid, Marco steals some money and bets to double the money. Sunder is held responsible for the theft, although no proof is present. Marco tells the truth to Sunder, and they have a fall-out.
Sunder agrees to a cricket match between his team and a team headed by Kunta's nephew: if they win the game, they will win funds to keep the school. Initially, Sunder's team is losing, but Marco then steps into the game (still invisible to everyone), sabotages the opponent team and helps Sunder's team, leading Sunder's team to succeed massively.
After a brief meeting between Sunder and Kunta prior to the start of the match where Sunder mentions Marco's ghost, Kunta becomes suspicious. During the match, he abducts Sunder along with Mala and buries them alive in the very place he had buried Marco. Marco manages to lead the police to the cemetery where a fight erupts between Kunta and his goons on the one hand, Marco, Mala, Sunder and the policemen on the other. After succeeding in beating up the goons, Marco starts to strangle Kunta with a rope while Sunder forces Kunta to confess his role in Marco's murder. Marco then pushes Kunta into the empty grave and as he is about to kill him with a large rock, Mala calls out for him to stop, calling him "father" and entreating not to kill and sully his hands with blood because of Kunta. On hearing this, Marco immediately relents and lets Kunta live.
Finally, Sunder succeeds in his mission. Sunder and Mala marry, with Marco attending the wedding. At the wedding, a ray of light falls upon Marco who then ascends to heaven, although not before asking for "a minute" to entreat the viewer to do the right thing while they are alive, because they will not have the chance that he did to set things right after death. | flashback | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0041532 | The Judge | Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.) is a successful defense attorney in Chicago who has been estranged from his family in a small town in Indiana for some time. While in court, he receives a call telling him his mother has died. As he leaves to fly to his hometown of Carlinville, it is revealed that Hank is going through a divorce (due to his wife's infidelity) and custody battle for his young daughter.
In Carlinville, Hank reunites with his older brother Glen (Vincent D'Onofrio), owner of a tire shop, and his younger brother Dale (Jeremy Strong), an autistic aspiring filmmaker who carries an old 8mm film camera everywhere he goes. Hank then stops by the small county courthouse, softly enters a courtroom, and sits in the back where he observes a case in progress. The judge is Joseph Palmer (Robert Duvall), Hank's father. When Joseph sees Hank for the first time in many years, at the funeral, he is treating guests with kindness but acknowledges his son coldly.
The next morning, Hank notices damage to his father's Cadillac Coupe DeVille as he is preparing to leave. Upon seeing the damage, Joseph denies knowing how it happened; but Hank believes his father was drinking and driving and damaged his own car. After a heated exchange, Hank leaves, promising never to return. But after boarding his plane, Hank learns that Joseph is being questioned by police with regard to a fatal hit and run. The victim is identified as Mark Blackwell (Mark Kiely), a recently released convicted murderer whose crimes, before the killing, Joseph had treated with leniency.
After Blackwell's blood is found on the car, Joseph is soon indicted, with prosecutor Dwight Dickham (Billy Bob Thornton) seeking a conviction for first-degree murder. Hank agrees to defend Joseph and learns that his father was undergoing chemotherapy. This explains Joseph's inability to remember the accident and provides a potential diminished capacity defense, but Joseph rejects any such defense because of the potential damage it would do to his legacy. During the trial Hank and Joseph confront their bitterness with each other, dating back to a teenage drunk driving accident in which Hank was driving and Glen was injured – ending the latter's potential for a career in professional baseball. Joseph saw to it that Hank was sent to a youth detention center, and Hank left Carlinville after never receiving acknowledgement from Joseph for turning his life around.
Hank also reconnects with his old girlfriend Sam (Vera Farmiga), whom he abandoned after going to a Metallica concert more than 20 years ago. He discovers that Sam has a daughter, Carla (Leighton Meester), born nine months after he left, and deals with his concern that he is Carla's father.
At trial, Hank believes he has established enough reasonable doubt in the case to result in an acquittal. But Joseph sabotages the case by testifying that although he still cannot remember the accident, he has come to believe that he probably did kill Blackwell intentionally. Joseph confesses on the stand that he was personally haunted by Blackwell's case, having seen Hank in Blackwell, and wanting to help him like he would his son. Having misread Blackwell, Joseph afterward saw him in Hank.
Joseph is acquitted of murder but convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison, though he is released on compassionate parole after seven months, his cancer being terminal. He and Hank go fishing. After acknowledging Hank as the best lawyer he knows, Joseph dies peacefully in the boat. Hank, having made peace with his father, returns to the courtroom Joseph once reigned over, and spins the judges chair, where it ominously stops, pointed at him. | insanity, intrigue, murder | train | wikipedia | quirky crime drama, well-acted by Milburn Stone.
One of the last films directed by the great Elmer Clifton, whose career dates back to the mid-teens and D.W.Griffith, The Judge was also the first production of Ida Lupino's production company, first called Emerald Productions, later called The Filmmakers.This is a quirky film which is both hard-boiled and pretentious, raw and artsy.
It is also a film that raises as many questions as it answers.
Elements are introduced into the story, covered in detail, and then not developed.
Dream sequences are introduced, but are unclear.
The main character--who is a sleazy defense attorney, NOT a judge--is well-played by Milburn Stone, but his story is not really typical of anyone other than this one oddball character.
Why the film is called THE JUDGE, I don't know.
The show begins and ends with a judge pulling out a file from his file cabinet, and talking about what a unique and disturbing case this was.
The same judge does rule on an important case in the film, but he is not central--one wonders why the film is not called THE DEFENSE ATTORNEY?
While star Milburn Stone and some of the supporting actors give good performances, the doctor and Stone's wife are both amateurishly played.
Also, no scored instrumental music is feature in the film: only avant-garde acapella choral music, and the wire recording of the violin practicing that is used to get the psycho killer to grab a gun, which is used later as supporting music.
This gives the film an art-film feel.
A few scenes were unclear and required me to rewind the tape and watch them two or three times.
The scene where the guy selling the dolls picks someone's pocket--the guy who later kills a policeman and is blackmailed by Stone--was unclear.
Where was that gun coming from?
Is this sloppy continuity, or an attempt at being ambiguous?
Who knows...
When the film ends, somewhat abruptly I might add, the viewer will probably have a number of questions as we did.
However, whatever minor flaws I may complain about, The Judge is a unique film experience.
Not entirely successful, but unique nonetheless..
Odds are good this one was highly praised in Sweden and Italy....
...or: Well, that explains that.In the exhibitor's press book issued with this film, there is a half-page, two-column story under this headline: Balance of Symbolism and Reality Is Important Facet of "The Judge" There we learn..."the delicate balance between symbolism and reality is one of the most interesting features of 'The Judge." While symbolism is used freely throughout, it infiltrates, rather than intrudes itself upon the consciousness of the audience.
Instead of becoming an object in itself, a showcase for trick camera angles and self-conscious dramatic shots, the symbolism in 'The Judge' is worked in gently, a subtle shading to intensify the characters and action it supports.
While the effectiveness of symbolism is exploited, it is made to keep its place in the anatomy of the picture." (Thank goodness for small favors.)"...Wiliam Jackson (Paul Guilfoyle), a little guy who is pushed around, is first seen in the uncompromising sunlight of a middle-class park, against the sculptured background of struggling figures at the base of a statue.
He is trapped in the wire cage of a tennis court, and tried against the bleak bareness of a courtroom.
All these backgrounds build unobtrusively toward making his actions in the contrasting Apartment 29 natural and even inevitable.
They are an unspoken comment on, and explanation of, his character." (A nerd is a nerd is a nerd) "PROPS REVEAL CHARACTER: The office of Dr. James Anderson (Stanley Waxman), with its neat files and carefully cataloged data on human emotions, its stern furniture and well-ordered arrangement, portray the cold mind of the psychiatrist.
Lucille Strang (Katherine deMille) is seen against a haughty background that shows the deft, impersonal hand of a professional interior decorator, artistically lovely but without warmth, showing she has spent money but no love upon it---pointing up her brittle and unsentimental character." (Some of us clods just thought the dame had swell taste.) "The props, too, speak their piece.
Inanimate objects become characters in the story---Jackson's tinkle-toy that is crushed by the foot of an unheeding ruffian---the wire-recorder in Anderson's office that taunts Tilton (Norman Budd)---the gun that Strang steals from Anderson." This course in fundamental symbolism ends rather abruptly right there, as if the printer had had all he could take, and just inserted a still of the scowling, bow tie-wearing Paul Guilfoyle in place of setting the type for a third column.
Too bad.
Perhaps the third column explained just exactly what a tinkle-toy was.
Maybe it was a bedpan constructed out of tinker-toys from an Erector Set.Did the writers explain all this to director Elmer Clifton?.
Awkwardly Developed.
At first I thought this was a sleeper in the making.
Those early scenes of lunatic Tilton (Budd) are grabbers, especially when he challenges Code by shooting a crippled boy and his dog!
Moreover, his contrast with ice cold lawyer Strang (Stone) sets up real character color.
So it's no surprise when we find out about Strang's utter lack of legal ethics.
But inside the cold exterior, the lawyer's suffering pangs of conscience over the rogues he's gotten off.
At the same time, his arrogant wife is two-timing him with his associate, the county doctor, of all people.
Thus, despite his rigid demeanor, Strang's not altogether unsympathetic nor unconflicted.
Also, director Clifton heightens this first half with some imaginative camera angles and close-ups suggesting a world where anything might happen.Trouble is the second half bogs down in a lot of talk minus the earlier visual novelties.
Though loaded with potential tension, the Russian roulette scene goes on too long and is drained by too much exposition, resulting in an action climax largely wasted.
Then too, Strang's motivations behind his murder scheme are muddied up with all the talk that's not helped by an abrupt dream sequence.
In short, the promising early part is undone by a awkward latter part.
All in all, the movie raises interesting ideas but fails to effectively develop them.(In passing—For fans of TV's Gunsmoke (1955-1975), it's enlightening to catch actor Stone playing a role opposite to his avuncular Doc Adams in TV's longest running western.
However, if he smiled even once as lawyer Strang, I missed it.
Anyway, a salute to that fine actor.).
"Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo"!.
Yikes!
As is typical with Alpha Video releases, the DVD copy for this one is pretty awful.
It's very fuzzy and the sound very poor due to a loud hiss.
While I am thrilled that Alpha brings out many B-movies which would otherwise never come out on DVD, the discs have never been restored in any way and it looks and sounds that way.Milburn Stone plays Martin Strang--a lawyer famous for defending some high-profile murderers.
One day he realizes that his wife is cheating on him and concocts a complicated plan.
However, Strang is clever and is willing to take his time with this one.One day, William Jackson (Paul Guilfoyle) kills a cop and is up on murder charges.
Surprisingly, Strang volunteers to take the case free of charge even though it seems like a sure loser.
However, there is a catch--the obviously guilty man will pay for the service by doing Strang a favor.
After getting an acquittal on a technicality, Strang announces the favor.
What that favor is and how it relates to the wife is something you'll need to say for yourself.Now all this probably sounds great, right?
Well that's the problem.
While the set up was good, the payoff was not.
Even worse, much of the ending needed to be explained by the narrator!!
Instead of a dandy ending came talking, talking and more talking both before and after this exposition.
In addition, during much of this you hear one of the most annoying soundtracks in history--with a chorus blaring out 'oooooooooooooo' for what seems like an eternity!
Overall, the longer I watched, the less I enjoyed the film.
A film that had SOME good ideas but which was horribly written and cheap.
Very disappointing..
See Evil, Do Ambitious Evil.
I usually seek out detective movies from the early 30s because this is before the film narrative found short cuts and experimentation was the norm.
After "Kane," the narrative stance changed, and while novel forms got more radical, they are harder to find.This is a gem of that kind, nominally a detective movie of the earlier kind.
It is set in the early 30s.
Superficially, it is a simple story of how a smart man frames his wife's lover for his own murder, but the form is quite complex.
There is an outer wrapper: the narrator is a judge, and the focus a lawyer who appears before him, successfully defending guilty murderers.
Before the core story happens, we are also put into the role of a judge as we witness an introductory story that establishes not only the characters and their situations, but where we fit is as well.The judge respects the lawyer but is repelled by his success at using "tricks." Involved in the pre-story is an "alienist" who judges the sanity of defendants.
Using our anachronistic perspective, we watch as we learn that the lawyer's wife judges her husband as inadequate, and this is why he has sold his brilliance to the guilty.
Everybody in this story is a judge, and there is a deliberate merging of passive watching with actively manipulating the story, noir-wise.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching..
The redemption of an unscrupulous shyster.
**SPOILERS** Very penetrating study of an amoral and sleazy defense lawyer who suddenly got religious when he found out that his equally sleazy wife was cheating on him as well as the similarities he had in life with one of his clients.From the files of the honorable Judge Allan J.
Brooks, Jonathan Hale, we get to see the story of Attorney Martin Strang, Milburn Stone, and the life he lead that in the end made him realize what a low down rotten swine he really was.
Strang had gotten off accused murderer James Tilton, Norman Budd, on a technically the year before only to have him murder a young violinist Tony, Al Rosman, and his pet dog.
Tilton murdered Tony, a crippled 11 year old boy, because was was driving him, his next door neighbor, crazy with his violin playing.Called by Tilton to be his defense attorney Strang who tried to get Tilton off on an insanity defense was stymied when the court psychiatrist Dr. James Anderson, Stanley Waxman, determined that Tilton was perfectly sane when he murdered Tony.
What really struck Strang was the fact that Tilton had a brother whom he greatly disliked like he himself did.
This was the same situation a young Attorney Strang found himself in with his younger brother whom he, after having him disbarred from practicing law, drove to commit suicide!It was later when Strang secretly caught his wife Lucille, Katherine DeMill, having an affair with the court psychiatrist Dr. Anderson that he got the idea to reform himself from his life of legalized crime and repent to all those, the victims of the people he got off in court, he hurt over the years!
Planning to both cut his wife completely out of his will and set up her lover Dr. Anderson in a future murder that he so meticulously orchestrated Strang was going to right all the wrongs he committed, in getting murderers off, over the years.***SPOILER ALERT*** The plan that Strang put into motion ended up working to perfection with the biggest surprise, to everyone involved including the movie audience, being in him, attorney Strang, ending up as the murder victim!Very complicated story about one's redemption at the price of his own life.
Strange's shoddy past had finally caught up with him in both the murder of Tony by a client of his, James Tilton, whom he got off on a previous murder charge and his sanctimonious wife cheating on him.
But what I feel was the real tipping point in Strang's sudden conversion was his kid brother that he drove to kill himself years before.
It was Strang's brothers tragic death coupled with the fact of him realizing how many lives he destroyed in his sleazy tactics in court that finally made him see the light!P.S In a last act of contrition Strang left his entire estate, valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars, to the families of the victims of the defendants he so skillfully and dishonestly got off..
unnerving and scary art-house starkness.
A drama with M.
Stone (who again reminded me of both Wayne and Lemmon, with a distinctive trait of intelligence and lucidity), directed by Clifton, in the new austere style that has been taken up in the late '40s, and in fact it resembles many other tiny budget movies made in the late '40s and '50s, including the quirky script and gritty tone.
It's also like a 'Twilight Zone' episode.
The atmosphere is suitably boosted by an eerie score.The movie is breathtakingly compelling; given its presumably tiny budget, it's an extravaganza in terms of ideas, with existentialist overtones like the scene of the straitjacket and the roulette (the red herring had been the previous suggestion that the lawyer planned to murder his unfaithful wife).Stone plays a successful lawyer who has his own burden of a wrecked life; I was reminded of his supporting role in a drama made a decade earlier, about a merciless attorney.
The other highlight is the bleak and unusual script, worthy of 'Twilight Zone', much more adult than M.
Douglas rebelling in an exploitative early '90s movie once much acclaimed.
This one isn't about a crisis, but about bleakness and nihilism.
I liked the way Martin Strang dismissed his wife's explaining in the flashback scene.There are some freakish traits of what some would call exploitation: the unfortunate boy, the serum, the killers themselves, the gambling.The actress, De Mille's daughter, had the unflattering distinction of being chosen for her uncanny look. |
tt0120479 | Warriors of Virtue | Ryan Jeffers suffers a disability to his leg preventing him from trying out for sports and fitting in with other kids at school. He is currently the waterboy of his school's football team and has a crush on quarterback Brad's girlfriend. He often seeks escape through comic books and dreams of adventure, hiding the depression of his disability from his mother Kathryn.
One day, the owner of his favorite restaurant, his friend Ming, gives him a manuscript of Tao representing the five elements: Earth, Fire, Water, Wood and Metal. He advises Ryan to live his life no matter his physical limits. That night, Ryan and his best friend Chucky are approached by Brad and his friends who suggest an initiation for their group. Leading them to a water plant, Ryan is told he needs to cross a narrow pipe in order to sign his name on a wall of graffiti. Ignoring Chucky's protests, Ryan attempts to cross the pipe. During this time, a water pipe opens up and throws Ryan into the water.
Ryan wakes in a strange forest and is attacked by assailants who are drawn off by a creature from the lake. He screams and runs in fear, but soon realizes his leg works. He meets a dwarf-like man named Mudlap where a beautiful girl named Elysia drives him off. She tells Ryan that he is in Tao. Ryan tells her about the manuscript, which had been stolen with his backpack. Believing it to be the Manuscript of Legend, Elysia takes Ryan to Master Chung and he meets four of the five warriors, anthropomorphic kangaroos each representing an element: Lai, Warrior of Wood; Chi, Warrior of Fire; Tsun, Warrior of Earth; and Yee, Warrior of Metal. He is told that Yun, the Warrior of Water had left them following an earlier conflict. Ryan thinks that the creature that saved him is Yun and that he has the manuscript. He is told that the manuscript would be sought by Komodo, a warlord who betrayed the Warriors and is stealing from the Lifesprings of Tao in order to stay young forever where the Warriors are protecting the last Lifespring. While talking to Elysia, Ryan is captured by Mantose, Barbarocious, and Dullard, but is saved by Yun who admits he doesn't have the book leading Ryan to believe Komodo has it. He convinces Yun to return to the Lifespring.
Ryan flees, wanting to return home, but Mudlap leads him into General Grillo's arms and he is saved by Chung. Yun, Yee and Chi go after the manuscript and fall into a trap after being betrayed by Elysia, who joined Komodo as vengeance against Yun for killing her brother by accident. They are nearly killed in a trap, but narrowly escape using their skills and they return to the Lifespring to prevent Komodo from ambushing the others. Komodo attempts to kidnap Ryan, but instead fights Chung. The battle is brutal, but Chung is defeated and killed by Komodo who then makes off with Ryan.
When Ryan awakens at Komodo's palace, Elysia explains of Yun killing her brother and tries to convince him to read from the book so that Komodo could possibly invade his world for more Lifesprings. Ryan realizes he can't read the book and this upsets Komodo, who tries to strike Ryan down. Elysia interferes and is struck down by Barbarocious. Komodo kills Barbarocious in rage as Ryan escapes. Komodo, now growing unhinged, returns to the Lifespring and challenges the Warriors to one-on-one combat, splitting into five versions of himself. He taunts and defeats the warriors while Ryan, after getting an apology from Mudlap for his betrayal, finds an inscription in the manuscript. Facing Komodo and taunting him, Ryan tricks Komodo into using his power on him, weakening him so that the warriors can use their powers to purify his spirit, reforming him to a kind man while purifying his surviving army. Ryan, now mortally wounded, is surrounded by his friends and Yee astonishes everyone by thanking Ryan as he speaks for the first time in many years.
Suddenly, Ryan is back at the water plant before crossing the pipe. Realizing his desperation to fit in led to his accident, he changes it this time and refusing to go through with it. The water pipe opens like it did before, trapping Brad on the other side. His insults to his friends only prompt them to leave him behind for the police to find.
That night at home, Ryan apologizes to his mother for an earlier argument. When he goes to bed, he offers to tell his dog, Bravo, about Tao. | fantasy | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0939235 | Fallen Angel | Eric Stanton (Andrews), a down-on-his-luck drifter, gets pulled off a bus in the hamlet of Walton because he does not have the $2.25 extra fare to take him to San Francisco. He finds a greasy spoon called Pop's Eats, where Pop (Percy Kilbride) is worried about waitress Stella because she has not shown up for work for days. Ex-New York cop Mark Judd (Bickford) tells him not to worry. Sure enough, the sultry Stella (Darnell) soon returns. Stanton (like the others) is attracted to her, but she is unimpressed by his smooth talk and poverty.
Stanton cons his way into a job with Professor Madley (John Carradine), a traveling fortune-teller. No one is willing to buy tickets to the "spook act" because influential local spinster Clara Mills (Anne Revere) disapproves. Stanton gets to Clara through her inexperienced younger sister June (Faye) and persuades them to attend the performance.
Madley stages an entertaining séance, channeling Abraham Mills, the deceased father of Clara and June. Using information secretly dug up by his assistant Joe Ellis (an uncredited Olin Howland), Madley brings up the sisters' financial problems. The two leave quite upset.
Stanton gets to know Stella, watching her steal from the cash register and go out with men. Stanton falls in love with her. She makes it clear that she wants a man who is willing to marry her and buy her a home. He is so obsessed that he agrees to her terms.
To raise the money, Stanton romances and marries June, planning to divorce her as soon as he can. Clara, who has been victimized by a man of Stanton's type, is unable to prevent their marriage. Stanton cannot stay away from Stella even on his wedding night. Instead of sleeping with his wife, he goes to Stella, who has given up on him. He explains his odd scheme to her. By the time he returns to his wife, she has fallen asleep.
The next day, Stella turns up dead. Judd is asked by the local police chief to investigate. He first tries to beat a confession out of Dave Atkins (Bruce Cabot), Stella's latest boyfriend, but Atkins has an airtight alibi. Stanton is also a strong suspect, having been seen quarreling with Stella shortly before her death. Judd tells him not to leave town.
Stanton flees to a seedy hotel room in San Francisco with June. He tells her all about his drifter's life of failed schemes. June tells Stanton that she loves him. The next day, June is taken into custody when she goes to the bank to withdraw her money.
Stanton returns to Pop's Eats, where Judd is waiting for him. Stanton proves Judd is the killer. Judd found out that Stella had agreed to marry someone else rather than wait for his wife to give him a divorce. Judd pulls out his gun, but Pop wrestles it away, and Judd is arrested. Outside, when June asks Stanton where they are going, he tells her, "Home." | revenge | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0036038 | In Old Oklahoma | Eastern school teacher Catherine Allen becomes notorious in 1906 when it is learned that she has authored a romance novel. She decides to move West and begin a new life.
On the train, oil man Jim Gardner makes a pass at her. Catherine asks a cowboy, Dan Somers, to sit nearby as a safety measure. Both are on their way to Oklahoma, with stagecoach driver Despirit Dean tagging along with his friend Dan.
Many people in Sapulpa are upset with Jim's business tactics. A farmer feels he was paid too little for his property after Jim discovers oil there. Jim is furious when Dan strongly discourages Chief Big Tree from selling Indian land at too low an offer.
Dan travels to Washington, D.C., to ask President Theodore Roosevelt about oil rights. He fought for Teddy and the Rough Riders a few years before. Teddy offers him a chance to transport thousands of barrels of oil to a Tulsa refinery to win the rights over Jim, which leads to Jim's hired man, the Cherokee Kid, setting off an explosion and sabotaging the trip.
Catherine and Dan fall in love, with hotel owner Bessie Baxter playing matchmaker. A final fistfight between Dan and Jim settles matters once and for all. | violence | train | wikipedia | I thought Duke did quite well with the light comedy in the first part of the film before getting tough later on.
And he looks as good as he ever did.I liked the opening scene as the camera panned along the train interior catching the comments of the passengers - including, I'm sure, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams who had a few words to say, though the film doesn't appear in his filmography on this site or in Quinlan.Albert Dekker is quite a likable villain, and, for the era in which the film was made, it's quite clear what his intentions are towards Martha Scott; the innuendo is strong, and in the hotel she even looks into the room adjoining hers and gasps when she spots the bed where he wants her to end up.I'm a bit dubious about the total oil capacity of the various wagons at the end of the film and how easily some of the explosions occurred, but the sequence is quite a novel one.
And the period - very early 20th century - is an interesting one, with the film making several allusions to the new life-style that will be made possible by oil.Apparently Rhonda Fleming is in the chorus line in her very first film, and Gabby Hayes isn't too annoying in his customary old coot/sidekick role..
Gem of a John Wayne Film.
This a John Wayne film like no other.
Its action adventure in the oil fields and it's very entertaining and fun.
Wayne is Cowboy Dan Somers and he competes with oilman Jim Gardner for oil lease rights on Indian land in Oklahoma, as well as for the attentions of schoolteacher turned scandalous book author Cathy Allen.
If you're a fan of the Duke, you will love this film.
Spanish American War Veteran John Wayne hitches a ride on oil magnate Albert Dekker's private railroad car just as he's putting the moves on traveling school teacher Martha Scott.
That sets off a rivalry between them both professional and personal as Wayne gets under Dekker's skin.Dekker's the big kahuna in Oklahoma territory which would soon be admitted under President Theodore Roosevelt to the union.
He's crowding a lot of the small operators out of the field and they see in Wayne a leader and savior.Later on when Wayne and Dekker compete with the rival proposals for leasing Indian oil lands they go to the White House where Dekker thinks he's got an inside track with the Interior Department.
The reunion of Wayne and Sidney Blackmer as Theodore Roosevelt is pretty good, who'd have thought Wayne would have had the ultimate inside track.Dale Evans is in the film, she has a brief role as a saloon entertainer and sings a couple of period songs.
Dale also sang with Anson Weeks band before coming west both literally and figuratively.Martha Scott is a good crinolined heroine wooed by both Wayne and Dekker.
Second best scene in the film, John Wayne emptying his pistol into Paul Fix who played one of Dekker's henchmen who actually goes a bit too far because of his personal hatred for Wayne.
Third best scene, the climatic rush to deliver oil by covered wagons and tankers when Dekker buys the pipeline to fulfill the contract.
Still plays quite well today.This is one of John Wayne's better films of the forties.
Plot-- Business tycoon Gardner wants drilling rights on Indian land and he'll use about every trick to get it.
Now, if Dan (Wayne) doesn't get to the government office first, then the scheming Gardner (Dekker) gets the oil millions.
But, what great rivals Wayne and Dekker make.
Each is an imposing presence, even if Wayne puts on his best "aw shucks" act, while Dekker keeps an icy calm.
Still, sweet-face Martha Scott gets as much screen time as the guys, so likely Republic was trying to build her into a star.
And, of course, where there's Wayne, Gabby Hayes can't be far behind, doing his unforgettable crusty old coot bit.
Wayne sure shows his acting chops, more animated than I've seen him.
Republic popped a bundle for this, and it shows up in the colorful crowd scenes (thanks to director Rogell) and big oil well gushers, along with that final stampede.
Two women, Ethel Hill and Eleanore Griffin, share screen writing credit for Republic's western adventure film WAR OF THE WILDCATTERS (known to some as IN OLD OKLAHOMA).
A modestly budgeted endeavor, the story comes to life thanks in large part to a cast that includes John Wayne, Martha Scott, Albert Dekker, Gabby Hayes and Marjorie Rambeau.
Not to be missed-- there is an impressive moment when oil is struck and a huge gusher comes in..
One of Poverty Row studio Republic's intermittent big-budget efforts, War of the Wildcats is a lively, if fairly routine, western notable for its early 20th-century setting.
Somers, formerly one of Teddy Roosevelt's rough riders, who finds himself entangled in a love-and-oil battle with Albert Dekker.
Wayne is fairly amiable here, representing the old west and the little man forced to adapt in the face of modern technology and the dawn of big business.
I'm not quite sure how that stacks up today, given our knowledge that the treatment of the native American by the old west fell somewhat short of what can be considered fair.Anyway, possibly the best aspect of this film is that Dekker's character isn't portrayed as an out-and-out villain, driven only by greed.
Anyone who has ever had the experience of working with or for a 'captain of industry' (for want of a better term) or a self-made man, will probably recognise oilman Gardner's characteristics exactly as those that account for the success of these people.
They aren't necessarily bad people, just ruthless enough to do whatever is necessary in pursuit of their goals.Martha Scott is a fairly bland heroine it's difficult to see why such rugged individuals as Somers and Gardner would both be so keen to bed her.
Gardner's frankness in this matter is also refreshing given the times in which this film was made.
Of course, he doesn't succeed it would be another quarter of a century before Hollywood would allow a character like Jim Gardiner to win the girl (and the oil)..
This film is also very commonly known as "War of the Wildcats".
As you watch it, the movie sure looks like a B--but with just a bit more polish, a bit longer running time and a bit more in the way of budget.
But many of them looked a lot like Bs and felt a lot like Bs. His bigger budget studio projects were still a few years ahead.The film begins with a feminist author (Martha Scott) leaving her tiny town.
Her dull old aunt wants her to live with her in Kansas City--but when she meets a big-time oil man (Albert Dekker), he convinces her to follow him to the oil fields and promises her wealth and excitement.
Second, John Wayne pops into her life--and back then he was a major hunk.
In the middle portion of the film, Wayne and Dekker vie for power and fight over oil land that the Indians are willing to lease.
But Dekker is determined not to play nicely--and seems willing to use some dirty tricks to make sure he alone gets these leases.Overall, this is not an especially deep film nor is it very realistic.
Albert Dekker was one excellent actor, and in this movie shows he was an excellent action star as well.He and the Duke have one of the fiercest fight scenes ever, yet the Dekker character is still ultimately likable even though he is a pretty rotten scoundrel.Siding Duke is his frequent co-star, another excellent actor, George "Gabby" Hayes.Also siding him, as the oil field manager, is a terribly unheralded actor, Grant Withers, as one of the strongest characters on the screen.Martha Scott was one gorgeous and incredibly talented woman, to repeat, incredibly talented and apparently so recognized by her fellow actors.
She is adorable, and has a beautiful and extremely expressive face.Speaking of adorable: Dale Evans became The Queen Of The Cowgirls, and as co-star and later wife of Roy Rogers, that is how we know her -- mostly.
Dale Evans had it all, beauty and talent and our hearts.John Wayne gives one of his best performances, playing light comedy in much of the first half of the movie, and then his expected action hero thereafter.And there is plenty of action, beautifully photographed by Jack Marta and beautifully directed by Albert S.
Well, it has both Gabby Hayes and John Wayne singing -- not so pleasant, but funny.The rest of the listening is very pleasant as two women script-writers, Ethel Hill and Eleanor Griffin, produce a superlative script from the original story by Thomson Burtis.
On the surface it looks like an ordinary, run-of-the-mill B western with cowboy John Wayne leading a revolt against greedy oil baron Albert Dekker.
Oh and the obligatory pretty school teacher Martha Scott, who catches the eye of both Wayne and Dekker.
Wayne and Dekker play their white hat/black hat parts well, and Scott is charming with a nice chemistry with Duke.
Supporting cast features greats like Gabby Hayes, Marjorie Rambeau, and Paul Fix. And just wait until Teddy Roosevelt shows up.
John Wayne plays a cowboy who allows himself to be underestimated by wildcatter Albert Dekker.
His 'aw shucks' manner like Jimmy Stewart in 'Destry Rides Again' masks a tough, intelligent character who rises to the challenge posed by Albert Dekker's Jim Gardner.Part of what makes the movie interesting is that the villain, Jim Gardner, is not just a standard heavy.
He's also a close physical match for John Wayne's character, with two long fights.
At the sight of an oil well spouting oil, Martha Scott's Cathy Allen, gushes "It smells like a new day, like prosperity"; Somers replies, "To me it just smells".Somers saves Gardner from getting shot by a disgruntled farmer, then prevents Gardner from beating up the farmer.
"In Old Oklahoma" or "War of the Wildcats" (its re-release title), could have been one of Wayne's better 40s westerns.
It is spoiled in the first half, by Wayne trying to do the light comedy thing in his romancing of Martha Scott.
There is plenty of excitement in the second half including a good fight between Wayne and villain Albert Dekker and a race to the refinery wagon race at the film's climax.Besides Wayne, Scott and Dekker, we have George "Gabby" Hayes, Grant Withers on the right side of the law, Sidney Blackmer as Teddy Roosevelt and saints preserve us, Miss squeaky clean Dale Evans playing a saloon showgirl of all things, little touchy and all.
War is a bit strong a word, more like scuffle of the wildcats..
John Wayne & Albert Dekker compete for oil rights on Indian territory, and for the attention of Martha Scott in this Republic Pictures film shot out of Utah, USA.An interesting Western of sorts due to its characters and its more modern setting, with Wayne & Dekker playing the old and new factions of the West.
The light hearted approach to the romantic strand doesn't sit quite right, and a glorious fist fight between the two protagonists is ruined by Rogell being unable to disguise the stunt men doing the work.
Solid support comes from George 'Gabby' Hayes and Wayne as usual has much screen charisma, particularly when rattling off his pistol.
But in spite of its better than usual Republic budget, it remains a film of interest only to 1940s Wayne enthusiasts.
Yer basic patriotic Western, made in WWII days, John Wayne is out Wildcatting in the old days, runs into corrupt rivals and fights over blonde Martha Scott with Albert Dekker and company...Gabby Hayes does his patented Walter Brennan knockoff and you get to see the standard Yakima Canutt stage and horse stunts along the way.
Rough and tough cowboy Dan Somers(John Wayne)battles a high and mighty land baron Jim Gardner(Albert Dekker)for not just land, but oil drilling rights around Sapulpa Oklahoma.
Wayne as customary sides with the Native Americans in hopes of legally claiming, drilling and transporting the oil on their land.
There is the obligatory romance to deal with thanks to Martha Scott.
Other cast members of this fast paced western: 'Gabby' Hayes, Paul Fix, Grant Withers and Sidney Blackmer as President Teddy Roosevelt.
This is an earlier John Wayne movie.
The good guy is of course John Wayne and the antagonist is played very well by Albert Dekker.
He is a ruthless businessman but that was the way it was back then, he has a softer side and unlike a lot of real bad guys of that time in the movies he has a bit of a conscious and treats his workers well.
He and Wayne get in to a couple of knock down fights and they appear to have a mutual, all be it not a liking, for each other.
Wayne has Indian connections in this one that lead to his being successful by the end of the movie.
One of several epic film stories about oil wildcatting released in the 1940s.
Albert Dekker plays Jim Gardner: the established kingpin of the oil exploration business in Oklahoma, and an obvious candidate to be the chief villain in a fight with a consortium of small oil producers, farmers and Aboriginal Americans for a share of the riches.
John Wayne, as Dan Somers, although lacking experience in oil exploration, is elected leader of the consortium.
Toward this end, Gardner buys the oil pipeline from this region to the Tulsa refinery, thus forcing the consortium to transport their oil in wooden tanker wagons and makeshift containers in wagons(Where did they all of a sudden get all of these wagons?).In addition, the Cherokee Kid, who sometimes works for Gardner, has his independent reason to want to sabotage the consortium's efforts.As you might expect, a woman is also involved in the competition for oil rights.
Martha Scott plays a schoolteacher and novelist from the east , who wants some experience living in the west.
That mad dash to the refinery was the action highlight of the film.Dale Evans leads a troupe of singer/dancers in a stage show in the saloon.
John Wayne fans will want to see this superior Republic offering, featuring a rather young Wayne.
Dekker provides a rather appealing villain, in most respects, except toward the end..
Likable John Wayne western with a real lightness of touch.
WAR OF THE WILDCATS is another black-and-white western of the early 1940s, starring the ever-likable John Wayne.
This one's about land-grabbing and oil rights, featuring Wayne romancing a woman who is torn between his poor cowboy and a wealthy businessman who'll do anything to make a profit.
The notable thing about this film is that it has a real lightness of touch that turns it into an out-and-out comedy in places.Wayne shares plenty of repartee with the amusing and sparky Martha Scott and seems really comfortable with this fun and funny material.
Albert Dekker's villain is better written than usual, being a fully-rounded character who is quite respectable and even engaging at times.
The film has a fast pace and plenty of action, including an exciting large-scale chase and some good fights.
Rogell's 'War
', a sex comedy (until it switches to a rural drama and the characters sometimes get a bit sententious) replete with exciting love innuendo and genuinely good one-liners, has that ineffable uplifting quality known as zest, or gusto; very dynamic, at the twilight of the cherished West, when the land of the farmers, cowboys, Indians and wry coach-drivers becomes the land of the upcoming oilmen, a comedy of the later West, if you will (yet this typology is secondary here, as Jim behaves like the usual ruthless rich, regardless of the spring of his income), and not at all a screwball, because it's another genre altogether: a rivalry drama, well handled and flawlessly written on its own unassuming terms, the storyline remaining a look at love, and in this it's nicely written, and also well directed, by Rogell.
When angered, the oilman looked like a saner Atwill; but he is not maligned as a villain (at least at first, up until the ride to Tulsa, then we get less certain about his even basic honor), but instead comes across as a genuinely limited person, naturally unable to understand what's outside the range of his daily life, and this seems reasonable.
Martha Scott's character seems a bit dry, which she's supposed to be, and then her performance changes accordingly, as we get to know her, and she gets accustomed to her new place; but there's a minus: the schoolteacher is also a bit unlovable, a bit trite.
It seems like not only the girl, but also her two rival pursuers are such wildcats.
There are also villains, so that the community looks plausible.'War of the Wildcats' is not a Western (and certainly not a kids' movie!), of course (Somers plays as an archetypal twilight cowboy, drifter, gunman, adventurer, eventually turned oilman and settled), but a blend of comedy and drama to be enjoyed by Western buffs.There are a few twists, psychologically intriguing (Catherine's turns, even Jim's honor, up to his showing an uglier side of his soul).
Good movie.The playful Wayne reminded me of Gibson in his comedy roles.
John Wayne fights corrupt killers on Big Oil's payroll .
Big Oil tries to cheat the Native Americans IN OLD OKLAHOMA, but just as pharmacist Wayne gunned down all the would-be Gold Rush claim jumpers IN OLD CALIF0RNIA, cowboy Wayne guns down all the oil field saboteurs here.
When the oil's not being pumped, Wayne finds time to fall for a lady novelist, just as he'd later do in WITHOUT RESERVATIONS.
If Wayne had been around 15 years ago, no doubt he'd have gunned down all of these Oil Crooks! |
tt0032993 | Road to Singapore | Josh Mallon (Bing Crosby) and Ace Lannigan (Bob Hope) are best friends and work aboard the same ship. As their ship returns to the US after a long voyage, they see all the other sailors being mistreated by their wives and girlfriends, and the two friends pledge never to get involved with women again. Unfortunately, this vow is tested almost immediately. First, Ace is confronted by the family of a former lover, Cherry, who insist he marry her. Then Josh, who is the son of rich shipping magnate (Charles Coburn), has to fend off his fiancee, Gloria (Judith Barrett), and his father's wishes that he settle down and take over the family business. Things get worse when Josh and Ace get caught up fishing and turn up late for a party to celebrate Josh's engagement. Gloria's hostile drunken brother starts a fistfight and a news reporter takes photographs that cause a scandal. Josh and Ace flee to Hawaii and then head for Singapore.
However, the pair only get as far as the island of Kaigoon before their money runs out. They rescue Mima (Dorothy Lamour), an exotic local (but not native) from her abusive dance-partner, Caesar (Anthony Quinn), and she moves into their hut. Soon Mima is running the two men's lives, much to their chagrin. The trio try to make money in several different ways, including trying to sell a spot remover that is so bad it dissolves clothes.
When Josh's father finally locates his wayward son, he and Gloria fly out to bring Josh back to face his responsibilities. The resentful Caesar leads them to where Ace, Josh and Mima are enjoying a local feast. By this point, both Josh and Ace have fallen in love with Mima. She is heartbroken to learn that Gloria is Josh's fiancee.
Ace proposes to Mima, but before she can accept, Josh returns. The two friends almost come to blows over Mima, but then decide that she should choose between them. Mima picks Ace. Josh boards an ocean liner with Gloria and his father.
Meanwhile, Caesar informs the local police that Ace is on the island illegally. Ace is arrested when he cannot produce a passport, but manages to escape. He and Mima flee aboard a ship, but Ace comes to realize that Mima really loves Josh.
When Josh's ship docks at a tropical port, a passenger complains about a terrible spot remover that disintegrated his suit jacket. Josh realizes that Ace and Mima must be on the island. When he finds them, Ace tells his best friend that Mima really loves him. | romantic | train | wikipedia | That was the original casting that Paramount originally had for this first of the Road pictures.You can tell that they did not have a series in mind because the billing was Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, and then Bob Hope.
But when you see Crosby and Hope trying to land a fish and later on singing the Captain Custard song, the chemistry is unmistakable.The rest of the score by Jimmy Monaco and Johnny Burke consists of one of Crosby's nicest ballads, Too Romantic and a novelty song for all three of the leads, Sweet Potato Piper.
While these do give the film a more general entertainment value I prefer the out and out comedy of Hope and Crosby and the songs took away from that.This is not to say it isn't funny, but just that the duo seem to be finding their feet still.
Crosby plays the playboy very well and Hope is more controlled than usual he is actually operating within the bounds of the film and not doing any knowing gags.
Lamour is more understated than later films but it is strange to see a woman so clearly white portraying a woman supposed to be of ethnic origin but I guess that's the period.Overall this is an enjoyable film but not the Road series at it's best.
With no sequels originally intended, its popularity truly relies most not on the slight screenplay by Don Hartman and Frank Butler nor the few comedy routines, but the fine chemistry brought out by its leading players, Crosby, Hope and Dorothy Lamour.
The story revolves around Josh Mallon (Bing Crosby, in a role suited for a much younger actor), a free-spirited young man whose serious-minded father (Charles Coburn) wants him to carry in the family business of his multi-million dollar establishment, Mallon Steamship Company, as well as to settle down and marry an heiress, Gloria Wycott (Judith Barrett).
More problems arise when Papa Mallon and Gloria track down Josh to take him back with them to the states, much to the dismay of his friends.As Bob Osborne, host of Turner Classic Movies, mentioned in his profile on the the making of the film in its January 28, 2010 presentation, SINGAPORE was initially scripted for George Burns and Gracie Allen, and revised for Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie before the screenplay finally went to Crosby and Hope.
Worked into the script were songs by Johnny Burke and Victor Schertzinger, including: "Captain Custard" (sung and performed by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope); "The Moon and the Willow Tree" (sung by Dorothy Lamour); "Sweet Potato Piper" (sung by Crosby, Lamour and Hope); "Too Romantic" (sung by Crosby and Lamour); "Kaigoon" (by James Monaco and Johnny Burke, sung by natives); and "Too Romantic" (sung by Crosby).
"Too Romantic" is the love song theme, slow in tempo, suited for the style of Crosby and Lamour, while the lively "Captain Custard" number demonstrates how grown men can still get by acting like mischievous little boys clowning around, and making eyes and chasing pretty ladies in the process.
Other members in the cast include Pierre Watkin (Morgan Wycott); Gaylord Pendleton (Gordon Wycott); Johnny Arthur (Timothy WIllow); and Benny Inocencio (The Native Boy), As fate would have it, this simple and innocent story proved far more success as anticipated, paving the way for a series of "Road" comedies by re-teaming Crosby, Hope and Lamour in different character portrayals, different locales but similar situations involving two guys and a gal.
SINGAPORE has rare distinctions where it provides some background to its two characters: Crosby as a millionaire's son whose happiest being away from responsibility; an Lamour the native girl who teams up with a dancer (Quinn) following the death of her parent.
The major ingredient SINGAPORE has that would be used in most subsequent films is Hope and Crosby's "paddy cake" routine, and of course Lamour enacting as their straight woman.
Regardless of being the lesser item in the series, ROAD TO SINGAPORE, which will never have the distinction of becoming part of American Film Institutes "100 Greatest Comedies" as ROAD TO MOROCCO (1942) did, but is one relatively known as the movie that started it all with Crosby, Hope and Lamour and their journey to adventure into comedy, music and romance.
Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour may never have been the Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald of the 1930s and 1940s Hollywood musicals, but anything they ever recorded during this period was better than any of the painful operetta stuff of the latter screen duo.
Dorothy Lamour, although an exquisitely beautiful actress, does not resemble an islander native, although it isn't exactly her fault.In the same manner, some people may find this film offensive, or any of the ROAD films because they are not a true representation for any culture.
While there's not quite as much zaniness as the rest of the films in the series, there is a solid story, and a surprisingly good bit of acting by Bob Hope in the film's more serious scenes.
Avoiding arranged marriages, shipping heir Bing Crosby (as Joshua "Josh" Mallon) and carefree pal Bob Hope (as "Ace" Lannigan) run away to Singapore.
This was the first in an initially unplanned series of "Road to
" pictures starring Mr. Hope and Mr. Crosby, with Lamour adding the necessary sex appeal.
An obvious screen chemistry multiplied the co-stars' individual appeal.***** Road to Singapore (3/14/40) Victor Schertzinger ~ Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Anthony Quinn.
The first of the Bob Hope and Bing Crosby "Road" series, and not the best.What's wrong with it?
I wish she'd been allowed to do a little comedy, but then the boys don't get to do much of it either, at that, so I suppose that's a bit of a moot point.I'm a big fan of musicals from the 1930s, but the obligatory songs in The Road to Singapore are pretty flaccid and uninspired.
The first but certainly not the best or funniest "Road" movie starring Crosby, Hope and Lamour, but just about worth a look, if only to see the component features of a successful formula slotting into place.The situations are there, the locations too, but the laughs strangely aren't.
ROAD TO SINGAPORE owes more to the charisma of its three stars--BING CROSBY, BOB HOPE and DOROTHY LAMOUR, for its success than it does to the silly script that has the boys meeting singer Lamour in a nightclub and taking her away from the clutches of villainous ANTHONY QUINN.The boys soon have Lamour keeping house for them and of course she falls in love with one of them--guess who?
That's about it for the plot, with a few pleasant song interludes thrown in for the sake of singers Crosby and Lamour.For fans of this series, Dorothy Lamour never looked more fetching and shows a good flair for comedy while playing straight for comic Hope and casual Bing.
In this first movie of the "Road series" two fun-loving bachelors named "Joshua Mallon V" (Bing Crosby) and "Ace Lannigan" (Bob Hope) find themselves on the verge of being married.
But the main attraction, in my mind, was the good chemistry between Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour.
Road to Singapore was a nice start of the Bob Hope-Bing Crosby-Dorothy Lamour Road series.
Two years after arriving at Paramount, Bob Hope would make the first of his teaming-with-Bing Crosby-movies with Dorothy Lamour as the leading lady.
Anyway, since this wasn't originally written with them in mind, there isn't as much comedy as you'd expect if you've seen the subsequent Road movies but there are still some very amusing lines and scenes especially when Hope's radio stooge, Jerry Colonna, shows up.
Bob Hope & Bing Crosby team up here for what was the start of a musical comedy franchise that would yield seven movies in total.
Road To Singapore is far from the best of the series and far from being the worst, but it holds up very well and harks back to a time when harmless innuendo, breezy pacing and a willingness to let the actors ad lib situations made for good wholesome comedy.
Good songs dot themselves throughout the piece too, with the stand out being "Too Romantic" performed by Crosby & Lamour.A lovely little piece that serves as a foundation for a much loved series.
"Road to Singapore" was the beginning of the "Road" pictures that teamed Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour together in a series of films.
Hope and Crosby have obvious chemistry, and in later films, this would lead to more hijinks.
Hope, Crosby, and Lamour on the First of Many Roads.
First "Road" movie for Hope & Crosby sees the duo hiding out in Singapore trying to live a simple life, away from women and responsibilities.
While in Singapore they meet pretty Dorothy Lamour and run afoul of her whip-wielding dance partner Anthony Quinn.It's a good start for the series but not the best.
Hope, Crosby, and Lamour were all immensely likable personalities and it's hard to watch any of their films without smiling..
Dorothy Lamour is still noticeably young and fresh-faced, while Bob is permitted to be more of a ladies' man than he later would.It's all pretty forgettable, but one views it indulgently, knowing that the talking fish and other enjoyable breaches of the fourth wall were not far away thanks to this film..
In 1939 no one was thinking franchise, in fact no one was thinking beyond a one-off entry pairing Hope and Crosby - who often cross-talked their way to their respective Sound Stages on the Paramount lot, and throwing Dorothy Lamour into the mix as love interest.
Anthony Quinn and Jerry Colonna, who would both feature in later 'roads' (Morocco and Rio respectively) were on hand and the banter between Hope and Crosby was in place but the 'realistic' aspect - Crosby is the despair of his family by preferring work to play, not a million miles away from William Holden's David Larrabee in Billy Wilder's Sabrina Fair, also a Paramount release - tends to impair the free-flowing zanyness of the rest of the franchise.
The plot is always the same: Bob Hope and Bing Crosby play two guys who, by the end of the first scene, need to get out of town in a hurry.
This is the first "Road Picture" starring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby and it's a bit unlike the others because of the number of songs and the more serious nature of the story.
All the Hope-Crosby films had musical numbers, but ROAD TO SINGAPORE had just too many--especially the big production numbers that studios absolutely loved during this era.
This along with less comedy make this an enjoyable film but not among the better films in the series.The film begins with Bing Crosby having an absolutely awful life.
What also seems a bit out of place is Dorothy Lamour, though she later explains that her parents were not from Singapore, so at least the producers recognized that making her Southeast Asian would not work.While Crosby and Hope are avowed bachelors who like the simple life, naturally they both soon are taken with wonderful Dorothy and her sexy ways.
Try ROAD TO ZANZIBAR or ROAD TO MOROCCO and you'll find a similar film but with a bit wackier sensibilities and more laughs.By the way, compared to later films of the series, Bob Hope's character is a lot tougher here.
This film is classed as a milestone purely because it was the first on screen adventure for Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour in their now legendary 22 year "Road To.." series.Josh Mallon (Crosby) is the reluctant heir to an over bearing shipping Magnet and reluctant fiancé to a society heiress.
Josh is a free spirit who rather than face up to his destiny as future head of the firm, prefers to run away and sail the world aboard his fathers ships with his best mate Ace Lannigan (Hope).When a shipboard fight involving the family of his perspective bride forces Josh and Ace to run away again, they decide to shy away from the rat-race forever and live anonymously on the paradise island of Kaigoon (don't look it up on the map folks because it ain't there), meeting up, befriending and finally shacking up with Mima (Lamour) an exotic dancer in a local café.Whilst the entire world is looking for the heir to the Mallon Millions, Josh is finding true happiness and true love in the arms of the beautiful Mima, but how long can is anonymity last before he is found and will his ultimate destiny destroy his chance of ultimate happiness?Although still in essence a comedy with musical interludes, this is without doubt the most serious of the Road movies.Bing, Bob and Dotty, as they have become affectionately known through the decades must have had no idea that this movie would spurn six funnier and more successful sequels, otherwise I am sure they would have injected both a little more enthusiasm for the project and more of the familiar banter and off the wall humour the later films contained and became famous for.Road to Singapore shows us little of the great triple act Bing, Bob and Dotty were to eventually become and although their is obvious screen chemistry between Bing the Crooner and Bob the Comic, they had yet to develop the double crossing, self depreciating ad libbing characters that would see them become the greatest comedy double act of the 1940's and early 1950's.Rather than squabble, swindle, con and insult each other throughout the picture, which was the mainstay of all their future screen pairings, Bing and Bob actually seem very pally indeed, and apart from five minutes of their more customary double crossings, in order to impress and ensnare Mima, they seem genuinely fond of each other.Despite this sneak preview of what was to come, great comedy moments are few and far between as although Hopes one liners are as good as ever, unfortunately Bing is relegated to the role of straight man and romantic lead, a formula they thankfully abolished in all later movies, allowing Bing to be just funny and just as zany as his friend.Road to Singapore is far from a bad film, but it is a poor representation of one of the most successful and funniest film series in history..
Bob Hope and Bing Crosby are terrific as amiable scoundrels "Ace" and Josh in this initial entry in the "Road to..." film series.
Although they make a pact to swear off women, they find themselves competing with each other for the love of a comely dancer named Mima (the enchanting Dorothy Lamour)."Road to Singapore" is good light entertainment, an easy-to-take mixture of lots of comedy, romance, a couple of songs, and that aforementioned exotic setting.
Who remembers the actual winners, "It's a Blue World" or "Waltzing in the Clouds"?Lamour of course provides the film's romantic focus, whilst Hope and Crosby (joined briefly by Colonna) supply the slapstick, the clever banter and the perfectly timed repartee.
True the humor is not quite as crazy as in some of the other entries, but is that a disadvantage?Beautifully photographed with excellent production values, The Road to Singapore adds up to exceptional entertainment.Although the critics were lukewarm, the public found this initial teaming of Crosby, Hope and Lamour impossible to resist.
The melodious Crosby, the quippy Hope, the alluring Lamour, and all set in rich and/or exotic locales, teeming with favorite support players like the lovably irascible Charles Coburn or the lovely if demanding Judith Barrett..
First of the Road Series, starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour that served as escapist fare during and after WWII to supposed exotic destinations.
Hope is put in a police van, from which he escapes....Quinn would play a villain in several more of the Road Series.Of course, Bing and Hope continually fight over Mima.
Meanwhile, Bing has to chose between Mima and Gloria, his girlfriend back home, who has come to the island with his father to escort him back home.Actually, the film begins with Bing and Hope disembarking from the ship they have been working on, badmouthing wives and girlfriends, swearing they are through with women.
Of course, the alleged Singapore setting isn't at all believable; it looks like some tropical island filled with dozens of topless tanned men, as toned as the sarong clad girls are laced with flowers.It's obvious to me that this wasn't planned as a series, but with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby as the top new screen comedy team of 1940 (along with Abbott and Costello), a series was inevitable, although other than gag guest appearances from Crosby in a few of Hope's films, they never appeared on the screen together in anything but these 6 "Road" films.This has a rather ordinary plot set up with Crosby trying to get out of an engagement and out from underneath the thumb of his domineering ship magnate father (Charles Coburn).
It's called "The Road to Singapore" but I don't know why; Hope and Crosby wind up on the island of Kaigoon in the Southeast Asia Pacific.
Depending on what you want from Hope and Crosby, this may or may not be the best of the Road pictures.
The boys flee to Singapore, where they meet -- who else -- Dorothy Lamour.
Now, why exactly the exotic Lamour is working with an abusive Latin dance-partner in Southeast Asia, is anyone's guess, but Hope and Crosby save her from that dance partner -- a young Anthony Quinn.
Hope, Crosby and Lamour begin living together...and falling in love.
Charles Coburn is just right as the father.Oh, and why is Lamour singing about weeping willow trees in Southeast Asia?????This is a very good comedy, and a must for the DVD shelves of Hope or Crosby fans..
Bob Hope and Bing Crosby are low level officers on a ship. |
tt1119191 | The Killing Room | Four individuals sign up for a psychological research study only to discover that they are now subjects of a brutal, modern version of the Project MKULTRA indoctrination program. One by one, the subjects are brought into a large, white room, in which the tables and chairs have been bolted to the floor.
They are each given a questionnaire to fill out. In the meantime, a researcher enters the room, ostensibly to give an overview of the study. He indicates to the subjects—three men and a woman—that the study will take approximately eight hours to complete, at which time they will each be paid $250. Upon completing his introduction, the researcher shoots the female subject in the head with a gun and promptly leaves the room.
Over the next few hours, the remaining three male subjects will be subjected to additional physical and psychological brutality. Only one subject will survive the ordeal. This subject manages to escape into the building. The loudspeaker gives details of where the subject is in the building. It is then realized that the subject is going where he is supposed to be. He ends up in a room with two other males tied to their chairs. The loudspeaker then states that phase 2 is to begin.
It is revealed, during the last subject's escape attempt, that the goal of the covert program is to achieve in human civilians a phenomenon similar to apoptosis in cells (a comparison noted in the film), by developing "civilian weapons" akin to suicide bombers. | psychological, murder, flashback | train | wikipedia | Let me start by saying that a lot of what you're about to read may seem like spoilers, but all of the following plot information is given within the first 10 minutes of the movie.In this movie, the CIA's secret "MK-Ultra" mind-control experiments of the '70s (which really did occur) seem to still be in operation.
This is not "torture porn" though, and aside from a couple of run-of-the-mill gunshots, it actually doesn't involve much graphic violence at all.While there have been many "locked in a room together for a mysterious and violent experiment" movies, this one is different in that it's told primarily from the perspective of an observer: a doctor who is interviewing for a position at the organization.
It struck me as overly melodramatic, trying too hard to make it sound like a military operation.But for all its problems, this movie will surprise you in the end with its relevance.
The ending made this movie entirely worth watching (if not good), which I'm glad I did.
Part Psychological Drama/Suspense, part Mystery/Thriller, part Dark Morality Play, and the fourth component is what makes KILLING ROOM totally unique, makes it stand out head and shoulders above the pack!
I found it to be a very unique suspense/thriller.Not since THE CUBE have I seen such a truly unique, original movie like the KILLING ROOM.
In this review I shall not go deeply into the plot, as I believe that the viewer will benefit from knowing as little of the narrative as possible, seeing as the script offers many twists and turns to any film-goer looking for thrills, and the film delivers on its dark premise, and then some.While films where a group of characters are manipulated and tested upon in many a sadistic and calculated manner have been all the rage since the Saw series, (comparisons to the franchise wouldn't be completely unfounded) this movie has a somewhat different approach to all the torture porn of late by relying on mind-games to get its thrills.
While the idea that experiments like this are still being carried out to this day (the film is based upon real experiments conducted by the CIA in the 60's and 70's) is completely impossible, the script makes it feel completely possible.
It was only at the last few minutes that you truly understand what the hell you had to make of it all.One of the reviewers said it was a waste of time saying that is was for the most part filmed in one room and the low budget statement.
If you like mind-game movies, thriller and secret organization performing (brutal,but not sick-) mind game experiments (where people do die) you should watch this one..
Another film, based in one room, in which 4 people are eliminated to one, told from the perspective of a behavioural psychologist observing the experiment.
Without the gore of Saw we need good three dimensional relatable characters whereas The Killing Room presents us with cardboard victims on the assumption that for some unknown reason we will guess who's going to survive and indeed, care.
There is also, throughout the whole film, a Nasa space mission type of control room patter that is rather bogus.Muttering and whispering in a "wet" room sound wise is a big problem and when you have to struggle to hear what's being said in a movie that is mostly about the dialog,well you have to say, hey guys remix the movie or something.The problem continues off and on every once in awhile you'll feel like "rewinding" to re-hear a line but it still won't make sense, so just go with it.
Story has elements like those in LOST and I guess it's a bit like SAW only this time the reason for them being trapped is for some greater cause and the gore elements are not there.It does feel like a movie, despite being almost entirely set inside of several different rooms.
The remaining papers that weren't destroyed before the investigation revealed an environment ripe for the kind of abusive experimentation shown in the movie.The thing is, the people running MKULTRA really didn't know all that much about a lot of what they were studying, and they had virtually no real oversight and too much latitude, so even though not well intentioned lots of their experiments went nowhere.
There are also plenty of conspiracy theories floating around about it, including the idea that it was never truly shut down, but the facts as we know them are pretty crazy, with thousands of pages of evidence of a CIA-run covert psychological program gone off the rails - at least with Milgram they knew they had to draw a line somewhere, but not really for MKULTRA.You really don't need to make anything up, but what the film does with MKULTRA does make for an interesting premise.
In other reviews I made I gone as far as ruining lots of plots but not this time because the urge of maintaining this piece of art calls for keeping the whole thing a satisfying surprise to the viewer.One final thing, I believe that this is the first movie that whoever will watch, would never give a bad feedback on it and I can't seem to think that anyone whether smart or not, sane or not, would not like it.
Some people are asked to complete some tests in a highly iffy government complex whilst an applicant for a position as assistant tester has their interview.I have seen similar things as this (The Experiment leaped to mind) but seeing it from the angle of tester and tested is an interesting twist.The film is well short, excellent performances with a strong production.
So for me to not have a very good time watching a movie like this indicates it wasn't very well made.
The movie spent too much time with the characters talking about pointless things and not enough talking about the important and interesting things.The sound-mixing in this film was also a real problem.
Other actors had the same problem at different stages too.There was a fun set-up for 'The Killing Room' that just never really reached its full potential for my liking.
I didn't find it psychologically thrilling, suspenseful or original at all.I kept waiting for something to happen, some revelation or surprise, but nope.Had the potential to be really good if they took it all the way but i feel like they only took it half- way, if that, perhaps i was expecting more brutality, or
something, not that what happened wouldn't be horrible for the lab rats, but eh.
These take a bit of a leap of faith to get around, but the speed and overall enjoyment of the movie caused me to over look them for the most part.The movie does a good job of building tension, but we are introduced to a major piece of 'logic' for the Killing Room moments before the climax - maybe a bit of an easy way out there.The acting is solid.
This was a pretty good movie, one of the reasons being that it made me think again on the essence of enemies in anyones own life.At a certain point in the movie Dr. Phillips tells Emily Reilly something in the order of that there's always someone like him at the end of the enemy, doing similar experiments with a similar purpose.
When i first started watching this i really got into it but started to lose interest because of a few things - muttering (sometimes you could barely tell what they were saying), Lack of knowing what was REALLY going on that was worth the government to do this to people, Lack of 'twist'.This movie started off to seem like it was going to be smart with maybe a few twists, but it turned from that to 'who cares lets just get out of this room'.
I know their not making a sequel because it was such a low budget film and people have barely heard of it, let alone enjoyed it enough to sit through another one of these films.Regardless of how much i liked this film (unless it was just HORRIBLE) i would still like to see a sequel because it left it off in such a way that i think a sequel would be good for this movie for several reasons, because they could do so much more with this story and have a chance to make the next one better and attract more audience members.
And partly because i don't like being left in the dark about knowing whats ganna happen next.One thing i did notice with this film is that it was trying too hard to be like 'Saw', which is alright i don't have a problem with that because they made it into their own thing, but i think a lot of credit of this movie should go to 'Saw'.
Director seems impressed with saw series and tried to create similar one room kind of horror/thriller, but sorry to say it's an awful story and end leaves a really bad taste in the mouth.
The four characters in the titular room are all well-written and competently acted (even by the surprisingly good Nick Cannon), their disputes are believable, their mysteries are interesting enough, but whatever atmosphere their scenes create is completely neutralised by the ridiculous number of scenes set outside the room.
The story (about people in a room, which isn't much of spoiler considering the title) isn't that new, but it's made rather nicely.You will have a few twists and surprises along the way (plus a good ending).
You got everything from a Rambo, over awful look-away to a modern Josef Mengele.I can really say, I feel sick for those people, which think this is a good movie.
Such people would also think killing children in a movie makes it a good movie, cause it is shocking.Please to all, which would like to have a good sleep at night, DON'T LOOK THIS DISGUSTING PICE OF GARBAGE!!!greets.
For the first 80 odd minutes of this 90 odd minute film there's little to talk about, four people in a very bland white room, one gets killed with the majority of the rest of the time just spent on them talking with scenes of Dr. Phillip's & his scientist mates (we know they are scientist's because they wear long white laboratory coats even though there's no laboratories anywhere to be seen) watching them & as a counter balance to their coldness fresh young recruit Emily Reilly doesn't like what she see's, this goes on & on for what seems like hours.
At least in a film like Saw there traps & puzzles while here in The Killing Room there is nothing & it's incredibly dull & repetitive to watch.
The twist just doesn't work & the idea of using the subject of suicide bombers as a cheap twist is in bad taste, The Killing Room is a film with a twist that tries to have a point & meaning but comes across as not having a damned clue.
I suppose the 'now for phase 2' ending leaves things open for a sequel, I shudder the very thought.Event though 90% of The Killing Room is set in a single, plain white run of the mill room director Liebesman still manages to make this thing look ugly with a constantly twitching camera, fast edits & deliberately out of focus extreme close-up foregrounds obscuring the character's.
An extremely repetitive, bland & dull film with a ridiculous twist that didn't work The Killing Room is also lacking in tension & suspense as my major emotion while watching it was boredom.
Also I don't know if it was just my copy but a lot of the dialogue sounded muffled as the three volunteers whispered to each other in increasingly panicked tones, I actually found it quite hard to understand what was being said on many occasions.Filmed in late 2007 The Killing Room wasn't released anywhere until 2009 & it's easy to see why there were no takers for over a year, not a very good film & not a particularly easy sell as nothing really happens in it.
Timothy Hutton once won an Oscar while Peter Stormare is better than this.The Killing Room is a terrible psychological thriller that tries to be clever & shocking & emotive, it fails.
What they don't know is that the experiment concerns the breaking point of of people and that there is a very good chance none of them will ever get out of the room alive.
At the same time the doctor running the experiment is looking to certify a new assistant.Okay thriller works, I think, more because its oblique, rather than because things make complete sense.
There's been a host of films with the plot of "people trapped in a room", regarding human lab rats run through a series of experiments, until one survivor remains.
Really, "The Killing Room" is no different, except in this movie we get an understanding as to who is behind the experiments.
While we discover as the movie continues just why these terrible acts are taking place by Americans to Americans, in such a cold-blooded fashion that it sours your stomach, and the fact that those committing such deeds have an agenda which differs from those of other films of it's ilk like "House of 9" or "Cube", there are also striking similarities which I feel will leave many a viewer feeling rather ho-hum over the whole deal.
During this time we learn a very little background of the organization, that the test is taking place in what is called A Killing Room, and the relationship to the MKULTRA program.
A white female (portrayed by the criminally under-used Clea DuVall -HBO's Carnivale-), a neurotic white male, a black male, and a calm white male ex-con ("We have a potential leader" squawks the two-way when he enters the scene for the first time.").The first kill (I assume that is not a spoiler given the title of the movie) is sudden, brutal, and takes the viewer completely by surprise.
And, as it turns out, here, the people running the experiment know who is really the top contender within a minute of their being in the room.The film of The Killing Room is a series of really tense scenes that have characters in a room figuring out what to do juxtaposed with people up in an observation room; one of them, Chloe Sevigny, plays a newcomer who may join the organization - if she has the right stuff for it.
Things like the blood that they spread on the wall so as to read the names of former people in the room; the questions and the answers that the men have to figure out and stick their answers to (or not); the non-pattern of the numbers counting down without consistency.And the performances meet up to the standards needed: it's not a Saw movie full of horrid melodrama and twists, and Timothy Hutton and (surprisingly) Nick Cannon meet up to what is required of them, and then some.
It may resemble it a bit like other movies (even if they were created after 2008) like "Hunger" in 2009 or "The Experiment" in 2010, but the film is gripping and unpredictable— except, of course, you could try to analyze the back cover, and I'll tell you up front, some people will see clues others will not.
Timothy Hutton's acting is normal good (from "Ordinary People" to "The Dark Half" to even TNT's "Leverage") and is just as good in "The Killing Room." It looks like it would be awful, but the film was truly terrific; I recommend this title..
Is that good movie when you don't get the idea of the film?
Everything in this movie seems to have you on edge, especially the scenes where it feels like the characters might go against each other in a dramatic way, instead of helping each other out or trying to get through it.
Much like the movie Exam, The Killing Room focuses on a room, and the four people who are situated in said room.The four think that they are there for some medical type research, and begin to fill in the mandatory paperwork.But after a sinister encounter with the person overlooking the whole scheme, turns a routine day in a literal fight for life.With every question given, one of the four will be killed off.
The guy want to sacrifice in the end, not because he want do die to the country, it's because he's a coward and cannot take the experiment anymore.The tests are ridiculous, if they respond right or wrong doesn't matter, the winner was chosen in start of the movie.And I think there's a part 2 of this film, but very annoying, this director does the Saw movie??
There's been a couple of movies with the plot of people trapped in a room lately EXAM is the other one and there both awful.
i think there cashing in on the saw movies popularity but failing to deliver.they start OK but the ending's suck, in this one the Ame of the experiment is to make a suicide bomber like we need'em we've got actual bombers like jets and stuff like that.there's no reason to waste so much time and money on there training maybe if they where assassins like in the born movies but you can only use these guys once it's ridiculous.just go watch saw again or even cube would be better then this..
**SPOILERS** Totally off the wall and utterly ridicules movie involving this super secret MK-Ultra like mind controlled project in finding out,through a battery of inane and silly questions, who among us, the American people, is best qualified to be a future patriotic suicide bomber for their country.
Locked in a room like rats in a cage the four are subjected to extreme mental as well as physical torture by Phillips & Co. that leads three of them to end up dead by the time the movie is over. |
tt0060390 | Fahrenheit 451 | In the future, a totalitarian government employs a force known as Firemen to seek out and destroy all literature, permitting them to search anyone, anywhere, at any time. One of the Firemen, Guy Montag (Oskar Werner), meets one of his neighbors, Clarisse (Julie Christie), a 20-year-old schoolteacher whose job is hanging by a thread due to her unorthodox views. The two have a discussion about his job, where she asks if he ever reads the books he burns. Curious, he begins to hide books in his house and read them, starting with Charles Dickens' David Copperfield. This leads to conflict with his wife, Linda (also played by Julie Christie), who is more concerned with being popular enough to be a member of The Family, an interactive television program that refers to its viewers as cousins.
At the house of a book collector, the captain (Cyril Cusack) talks with Montag at length about how books change people and make them want to be better than others, which is considered anti-social. The book collector, a middle-aged woman who was seen with Clarisse a few times during Montag's rides to and from work, refuses to leave her house, opting instead to burn herself and the house so she can die with her books. Returning home that day, Montag tries to tell Linda and her friends about the woman who martyred herself in the name of books and confronts them about knowing anything about what's going on in the world, calling them zombies and telling them they're just killing time instead of living life. Disturbed over Montag's behavior, Linda's friends try to leave but Montag stops them, by forcing them to sit and listen to a novel passage. During the reading, one of Linda's friends breaks down crying, aware of the feelings she repressed over the years, while Linda's other friends leave in disgust over Montag's alleged cruelty and the sick content of the novel. That night, Montag dreams of Clarisse as the book collector who killed herself. The same night, Clarisse's house is raided but she escapes through a trapdoor in the roof, thanks to her uncle. Montag breaks into the captain's office looking for information about the missing Clarisse and is caught but not punished.
Montag meets with Clarisse and helps her break back into her house, to destroy papers that would bring the Firemen to others like her. She tells him of the "book people", a hidden sect of people who flout the law, each of whom have memorized a book to keep it alive. Later, Montag tells the captain he is resigning but is convinced to go on one more call, which turns out to be Montag's house. Linda leaves the house, telling Montag that she couldn't live with his book obsession and leaves him to be punished by the Firemen. Angrily, he destroys the bedroom and television before setting fire to the books. The captain lectures him about the books and pulls a last book from Montag's coat, for which Montag kills him. He escapes and finds the book people, where he views his "capture" on television, staged to keep the masses entertained and because the government doesn't want him alive. Montag selects a book to memorize, Tales of Mystery & Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe and becomes one of them. | psychedelic, satire, murder | train | wikipedia | However, one fireman realizes that what he is doing is wrong and decides to go against the degenerate society he lives in.I have read reviews of this movie calling it "boring" and "outdated," and frankly I am amazed by how ignorant some people can be.
The people who made this were not trying to give you a spectacle, they were trying to give you a message - a message that is even more important today than it was when this movie came out."Fahrenheit 451" is a fine adaptation of Ray Bradbury's classic novel about censorship.
Although he by all accounts was not happy about making a color film and found it a bit unsettling, color is used to great effect here; sparingly, except for the extreme shade of red that is seen throughout."Fahrenheit 451" is supposed to be the temperature at which book paper catches fire, as the protagonist Guy Montag (Oskar Werner) explains in a scene at the beginning.
And when he arrives home we see his wife (also played by Julie Christie, with long hair), sedated and watching the wallscreen (TV of sorts)...we see what his life is really like, although he had told Clarisse he was "happy"...he is not.As his friendship with Clarisse grows, he starts to secretly take home, hoard, and read some of the books he finds in the course of his daily work, and as he reads, he becomes obsessed with the books.
And when he starts to feel and care, so do we.The two single best scenes are a passionate one involving an old woman who refuses to leave her books, her "children" as she calls them; and the wonderful ending of the film.
The countless, painful closeups of books as they are being burned are beautifully done, and difficult to watch.Truffaut was a well-known disciple of Alfred Hitchcock's films, so when Hitchcock fired his long-time music collaborator Bernard Herrmann during the filming of "Torn Curtain", Truffaut was thrilled to acquire his talents for his own film.
From Ray Bradbury's novel about totalitarian society that has banned books and printed words in order to eliminate independent thought; Oskar Werner plays professional book-burner who becomes enraptured with stories.
I was never a fan of director François Truffaut's too-precious stories of childhood, but this film, curiously his only English-language picture, is extremely well-directed; the sequence with the woman and her books afire is one amazing set-piece, with tight editing, incredible and precise art direction, and the camera in all the right places.
Sitting in a theater crowded with college students on a budget with nothing better to do, I watched this diverting little retro item, appreciated its subtlety, nuance, bold visual style, and 'got' the message that if we're not careful, we'll be mindless drones having our desires dictated by The Tube (in current times, that's hardly a profound statement).Francois Truffaut's adaptation of Ray Bradbury's novel is a bold visual feast that presents a time that might seem 'retrograde' in the eye of a modern pop-culture snob, but ultimately projects what a conceivable 'future' might look like (and not that CGI malarkey served up in "The Matrix").
The story follows Guy Montag, an Everyman who is employed as a fireman--a connotation which entails ransacking residences in search of books (reading and writing have been outlawed in this world) and burning them.
He has a medicated-smile wife (Julie Christie), a quiet home life, and is in line for a promotion, until a neighbor (Christie again) inspires him to question his motives for working such a sordid job.One character argues that books cause depression, making people confront unpleasant feelings.
"Fahrenheit 451" sometimes runs the risk of lending truth to that statement--in some ways, it is a bleak commentary on civilization, but at the same time grounded in a benevolent humanity that offsets Orwell's brutal, pessimistic world of "1984" (though both texts and films share similar themes).
Ray Bradbury's disturbing vision of a possible future comes vividly alive in this film adaption of Fahrenheit 451.
But read for enjoyment or for education about the world beyond the small space of earth you frequent, that's a big no-no in this future America.Oskar Werner stars in Fahrenheit 451, he plays a fireman who have a different function in this society.
Entertainment has really dumbed down and the circuses aren't too far from what used to entertain the Romans.In the supporting cast you will remember Cyril Cusack as the fire brigade captain who functions as the spokesman for this new world and Bee Duffring as the book lady who martyrs herself for knowledge in an unforgettable scene.The ending is not Bradbury's, but one written by director Francois Truffaut.
Fahrenheit 451 (1966)Directed by a legendary director (Francois Truffaut) and featuring one of the scorching female stars of the time (Julie Christie) and based on a imaginative book by a great American fantabulist (Ray Bradbury) there really has to be something amazing here.
And Bradbury may have liked the adaptation but I've read the book and it has some kind of flow and subtlety that the movie misses.
Ray Bradbury's famous novel about a future society in which books are outlawed gets the movie treatment.
In a future world where people basically float through life as mindless zombies Clarisse dares to live and it is she who critically, and fatefully, opens Montag's eyes to the possibilities of the written word.
In a future totalitarian and oppressive society, where books are forbidden, Guy Montag (Oskar Werner) is a fireman.
He decides to steal and read a book, twisting his view of life.François Truffault is one of my favorite directors, and his unique English-spoken film "Fahrenheit 451" is a masterpiece and one of my favorite movies ever.
Although set far in the future , there are no great special effects or elaborate sets ; despite , the movie was filmed in real locations by prestigious cameraman Nicolas Roeg , subsequently filmmaker , in Danebury Avenue, Roehampton, London, England, UK (opening sequence, block of flats) ,Linkway, Edgcumbe Park, Crowthorne, Berkshire, England, UK(Montagu's bungalow)Black Park, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, (Monorail),Fortismere Secondary School, Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, UK and Loiret, France , though most scenes were shot in Pinewood Studios .
The main character, Oscar Montag was nicely played by Oskar Werner but the films belongs to the insanely beautiful Julie Christie who played the roles of Montag's wife, and school teacher Clarissa.
Oskar Werner plays Guy Montag, a fireman who burns books rather than puts fires out.
I loved this film because its message is so very clear today and so scary as we live in a society very different from Montag's yet not so far away.
In an oppressive future, a fireman (Oskar Werner) whose duty is to destroy all books begins to question his task.I am torn on this film.
The idea and premise are very interesting, but what ended up on screen is just dull and uninteresting.There are times when the movie looks good, I would've liked to see more of this early spring concrete suburbia.
I'm a little shocked by all the whiny comparisons to the Ray Bradbury book and to Truffaut's own films.
It even was better than the book, which is quite a feat.Oskar Werner is the perfect person to play Guy Montag (actually, we never hear his first name in this version, it's always `Montag'), a fireman in the near future.
And, like the book, Bradbury got most of everything right on target.Werner is a great actor, but who really stands out here is Christie.
"Fahrenheit 451" was an adaption, but not one that stands among the infamous.Our troubles begin in this film with our lead, Guy Montag (played by "Jules and Jim" lead, Oskar Werner), who obviously hated working for Truffaut and this project.
Feeling a bit Brunel-ian, Christie was used as two characters in this film, providing an opportunity for Truffaut to demonstrate a particular emotion with books and without them.
Based on Ray Bradbury's excellent futuristic novel of a totalitarian society that is dedicated to burning all written works(books especially).
One such fireman, Guy Montag(played by Oskar Werner) has a change of heart after he falls in love with a beautiful dissident book reader(played by Julie Christie, who also doubles as his bored and drug-addicted wife) who leads him on an adventure that will forever change his life, and how he looks at the world...Beautifully directed by French director Francois Truffaut, who creates an effective colorless view of this oppressed society that wallows in ignorance.
I have not read the novel albeit I love Bradbury, so I can make no comparisons to this particular book(I will say that this is very much in his spirit), and this is the first film by Francois Truffaut I watch, so I can't say if this is typical for him or not.
Because the book is so current, it was very difficult for me to watch this movie; I have no problem with retro-futuristic 1960's sci-fi (I love Voyage to the bottom of the sea, for God's sake!), but I repeat, the story is so 2011 that the production design and cheap visuals don't involve me.
That intellectual decline is actually predicted by this film and the novel on which it is based.A future authoritarian state has converted the role of fireman from saviour of property to saviour of minds; they now dispense fire from their hoses to destroy books, these being a cause of misery according to the new society.
In the movie "Fahrenheit 451", written by none other than Ray Bradbury, we have a society wherein a Fireman's job is not to extinguish fires, but to innate them by burning books found among the reading public.
However things began to hinder Montag's life when he meets, Clarisse (Julie Christie) who creates uncertainty in the young fireman, by challenging him to read a book before burning it.
In the future, all books are not allowed and they are burned.A wonderful science fiction film that I return to with repeat viewings every ten years or so.
So yes, you must get the DVD to get the full experience of Fahrenheit 451.I personally think the film would not have been as good without Herrmann's rich and, slightly daffy (just like the plot of the movie), score playing over it.
FAHRENHEIT 451 is a Dystopian science fiction drama film which takes place in a controlled society, in an indefinite future, where books and written texts are prohibited, while, individual thought has become a question of consciousness.
It is based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Ray Bradbury.In the future, an oppressive government maintains control of public opinion by outlawing literature and maintaining a group of enforcers known as "firemen" to perform the necessary book burnings.
"1984" of course stands as the template for this dystopian future depiction but this fine Truffaut film of the Ray Bradbury book also put me in mind of its near-contemporary small-screen counterpart "The Prisoner".Of course the invention of Kindle-like reading tablets renders the premise of "Fahrenheit 451" somewhat useless, but there were several other recognisable motifs in the film which have reverberated down into today, like interactive TV show participation, the ever-present debate on state censorship and the dumbing-down of society.Stylishly directed by Francois Truffaut and superbly shot by the emergent Nicolas Roeg, it's a strikingly visual film, with Roeg's trademark use of the colour red evident everywhere.
Red of course is also the colour of fire which is used to destroy the books discovered by the state-run "fire-brigades" sent out on informant tip-offs, one of whose crew, the rigorous, seemingly ambitious Oskar Werner, is the central character whose conversion (or reversion) to an appreciation of literature is the fulcrum of the film.His young wife, played by Julie Christie is deliberately based upon Dickens' child-like Dora in "David Copperfield", the book that turns Werner's character and in an imaginative twist, she also plays the "girl on the train" who seeks him out as a possible convert to the book-people cause.
I understand the criticisms of the acting in the film, particularly by the leads as vacant, wooden and stilted but I can allow this given that they are representing almost automatons in the way they live ordered lives, are fed on comic-like "fake-newspapers", state-propaganda TV shows and travelling to work lemming-like in efficient sky-trains.I'm a great book-lover myself, so I lapped up the premise of the importance of literature in our lives but Truffaut never forgets he's making a thriller too.
In Fahrenheit 451, we meet Guy Montag (Oskar Werner) who works as a fireman; only in the future, firemen exist to start fires to burn books.
Fahrenheit 451 did not disappoint, if I had the experience to do over, however, I would probably not watch this film at the same time as reading George Orwell's 1984, as I'm now searching the internet for safes for all my books.
In spite of his promising career, a fireman named Montag (Oskar Werner) has grown disillusioned with his life and boring wife Linda (Julie Christie), and after meeting a young school teacher Clarisse (also Julie Christie) he starts dabbling in reading books himself.
The people around him aren't happy about his new attitude to life, however.The retro-futuristic production design looks good and Oskar Werner is believable in his everyman role, but there are things in the film I didn't like as much.
Any problems that happened off the set (fueds between Truffaut and star Oscar Werner) are not prevalent here- this is a film that with its style captures the kind of thought process behind Ray Bradbury's classic futuristic cautionary tale.
Although Fahrenheit 451 movie itself is an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's book.
In Truffaut's film, no one explains WHY books are important, why they matter - so given that Montag only becomes violent AFTER he starts reading, this version comes dangerously close to supporting Captain Beatty's argument: an ignorant society is a safe one.
In the midst of it all, he meets a cheerful school teacher named Clarisse (Julie Christie), who looks a great deal like his wife Linda (also Julie Christie)and challenges him to actually read the books he burns!
Ray Bradbury's book about a bleak future in which books are banned and firemen start fires is a genuine classic which is rightfully considered part of the science fiction canon.Anybody who has read the book will be acutely chagrined by this film adaption.
Francois Truffaut's film adaptation is a big failure for all the above reasons, especially considering he had the captivating novel by Ray Bradbury as his starting point..
It is based on a small story by Ray Bradbury about a society where books are banned and public service officials called, errr 'firemen', enforce their destruction.What gives this movie its special atmosphere is the smallness of the story.
This didn't just show how there was something sacred about the books that she's die for then live in ignorance, but it was also to show how much of a living hell the society created truly is as it's a world with not just no place for books but intellects as well.It's true the future looks a little more like the 60's and 70's with some futuristic equipment added, this film was made around the 60's after all.
But when you think about it more it does make sense, there was some sort of war sometime in the past which means certain resources would be scarce and due to the intellectual bankruptcy, it means very little invention and technological advancement, ok a few but like I said few and most of that tech is under government control.In a way this film along with the book was sort or prolific on Reality TV and podcasting as we see there is this interactive program they have going where people at their own homes they commutate with each other live, with whatever script given to them.
bradbury himself has stated that it is his only science fiction book, and that element is so important to the genesis of the ideas, the characters, and the plot, that to remove it...well this film shows what happens when you remove it.
"Fahrenheit 451" is instead a Sci-Fi film based on Ray Bradbury's work; it is also the only Truffaut's English language opus.From an aesthetical point of view the film is very old, this feeling can be deeper when we compare it to Stanley Kubrick's "2001" -a film released two years later and that still looks modern.
About the film itself, there's so much to enjoy: Truffaut's incisive direction; Nicholas Roeg's stark cinematography; Bernard Herrmann's gripping score; Julie Christie's radiant dual roles as Linda & Charisse; Cyril Cusack's fatherly but soulless fire chief; and -- holding it all together with a riveting focus -- Oskar Werner as the robotic "fireman" who eventually rediscovers his humanity and sacrifices everything to keep it.It's astonishing to look at Fahrenheit 451 from the vantage of the 21st century and marvel at the incredible concentration of A-list (for its time) talent assembled in one place for what would amount to pocket change in today's dollars.
Although Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 in 1951, the film produced in 1966 is as fresh as if Truffaut created today.
Life is good for one fireman, Montag (Oskar Werner), en route to promotion until he starts to think a little and wonder if something is not quite right.As an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's novel of the same name, "Fahrenheit 451" covers well-known ground in a thoroughly unique way.
As a big sci-fi fan and reader, having read all the major works of all the major authors, I can safely say the only books that should be burned are those of Ray Bradbury.
François Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451 is an adaptation of a novel, and as such, it is not bad, but as usual with such pictures, the film comes up a bit short against the book. |
tt0248190 | No Such Thing | Beatrice (Sarah Polley) is a young woman working in a media center under a woman known only as The Boss (Helen Mirren). She receives a recording from her fiancé Jim, who has been sent as part of a small production crew to Iceland to investigate a Monster that lives there. Determined to find her fiancé, Beatrice convinces her boss to send her to Iceland, but her plane crashes. She is the only survivor and, in order to walk again, undergoes an extremely painful, radical surgery. As she recovers, she befriends Dr. Anna (Julie Christie), who helps her travel to the remote village where the monster lives.
After cajoling Beatrice into drinking herself into unconsciousness, the villagers strip her and leave her as an offering to the Monster himself (Robert John Burke), a foul-mouthed, alcoholic beast old enough to remember human ancestors crawling from the seas. Beatrice shows him no real fear, although the Monster tells her he has killed her friends and might kill her, too. He tells her that he wants to die, but is indestructible. In an effort to force Beatrice to try to kill him, he proves that he killed Jim and his crew. She shoots him twice and he reacts in obvious pain, but heals almost instantly. He tells her of a mad scientist, Dr. Artaud (Baltasar Kormákur), who had discovered a way to kill him, but Dr. Artaud had been "taken away in a straight jacket." Beatrice offers to help him find Dr. Artaud if the Monster comes with her to New York and promises not to kill anyone while he is there.
In New York the Monster becomes a celebrity, with the Boss staging a media frenzy as they search for Dr. Artaud. They find that he is working for the government. While Beatrice revels in the attention, the Monster remains miserable and drunk. The Boss makes a deal with a government scientist to study the Monster and he's rushed away by army guards who mislead him into believing he is going to see Dr. Artaud. Instead, he is subjected to torturous experiments as the scientists try to discover the key to his indestructibility, one of them noting that he can't seem to tolerate new information. One of those experiments involves the Monster being ridiculed and beaten on the street to study his behavior. The Monster holds true to his promise to Beatrice and does not kill anyone.
Meanwhile, Beatrice meets Dr. Artaud by chance. With Margaret (Annika Peterson), a remorseful former coworker of Beatrice's, they hatch a plan to escape back to Iceland with the Monster. They make their escape, but are pursued by the government, who fears the Monster and Artaud might fall into the wrong hands. Artaud builds a machine that will kill the Monster. Beatrice bids the Monster a tearful farewell, and kisses him goodbye. As the machine starts, the army storms their hideout. As the lights flicker on and off and the machine moves the Monster into place (in a process mirroring Beatrice's surgery), the Monster and Beatrice face each other one last time. Her face flickers in his vision for several minutes before the screen blackens. | allegory, comedy, fantasy, cruelty, storytelling | train | wikipedia | Imagine that the original "Outer Limits" folks remade "King Kong" in their standard monster style and you have a good idea of "No Such Thing's" look and feel.
Then throw in a little "Mighty Joe Young" banter, "Beauty and the Beast fashions", and "The Song of Bernadette" for good measure.The film is a stylistic masterpiece and the banter between the beast and Beatrice (Sarah Polley) is surreal comedy at its best.
The story alternates between modern settings of a television network and the home in Iceland of a legendary monster that -as in "King Kong"- will become a victim of the manipulative methods of the communication media (with Helen Mirren in charge.) The scenes dealing with the reserved journalist (Sarah Polley in an outstanding underacted performance) surviving a plane crash, meeting a community of weirdoes in Iceland and finally facing the monster, are the most attractive; the following is rather clichéd, though this endearing monster (who looks like a rock star) keeps making until the end, insightful comments on human beings, when we were still creeping "to reach the shore", and our destructive ways.
NO SUCH THING (3 outta 5 stars) A weird kind of project for indy art movie writer/director Hal Hartley...
With this film, which I recently saw in DVD form, he presents us a modern day parable about the media an its influence on our lives.It's curious to see how ahead of his times Mr. Hartley is when he deals with paranoia, even before the attacks of 9/11, in his own subtle way.
These are the questions posed (and answered) by writer/director Hal Hartley in `No Such Thing,' an often biting satire of the news media, the all-to-prevalent-in-our-society tabloid-type mentality and our response to the unknown, be it tangible or imaginary; a film that brings us face to face with fear and confronts it with humor, pathos and Hartley's own insightful and inimitable take on the human condition.Some time after a three-man television news team disappears after being sent to Iceland to investigate reports of a `monster' living on a rock island just off the coast, the station receives a tape recording from someone claiming to be the monster himself, describing in graphic detail what he did with those dispatched to find and film him.
And Beatrice finds herself at the point of no return; she has come this far, and now it's just a matter of getting some help from the villagers to get her across the channel to the rock-- and her encounter with this monster who is `changeless and eternal.'As no one else can, Hal Hartley has crafted and delivered a film that is part `Beauty and the Beast,' part `Frankenstein,' part `Forbidden Planet,' and ALL Hartley.
Unlike most films featuring a `monster,' Hartley does not keep his audience in suspense, but reveals his `man/beast' at the very beginning, as we see him making the tape he subsequently sends to the T.V. station.
Hartley is also a master of `thinking outside the box,' which enables him to offer entirely unique perspectives on the human condition and this thing we call `life'; you never know where he's going to take you, which is another reason why his films are so engaging (as this one certainly is).
Keep in mind, though, that once you hit the deck with Hartley, the rewards are many and great.Working with Hartley for the first time, Sarah Polley proves to be a quick study in all things Hartley; in creating Beatrice, she demonstrates an innate grasp of his methods, and most importantly, what it is he is attempting to accomplish through his characters.
Science and human kindness are the saviors, the forces that can eradicate the need for such symbols.In order to tame "evil", the good have to endure suffering, symbolized by the young ingenue who is injured and healed : a Christ-like character.This movie is gentle, sensitive and moving as well as filled with delicate humor.
I kept switching back to the INFO button and was very curious to see how I was watching a movie about a MONSTER when cinematographically it looked like a dramatic independent film...As I kept watching, I became more engrossed in this film as it wasn't heading where I expected...I'm usually good at pinpointing the basics of where the movie will go...About 3/4 of the way through I figured it was another take on "Beauty and the Beast" but it STILL ended up surprising me...I won't say more so I don't give away the CINEMATIC RIDE I so thankfully happened upon.
In one of the best lines in the film as the Monster is pining for the fear of humans, he is warmly hugged by a sleepy Beatrice who says, "I'm afraid of you." It's a very good film, told as a cautionary tale in the modern world with fairly black and white characters.
Sometimes I try to think how much better the world would be if filmmakers like Hal Harley were more popular but on the other hand you can't really make people stop watching stupid movies, it's just the way the world works I guess.
Hartley has a great sense of humor, Beatrice, Arto, the villagers, the Monster himself are all very funny characters, they might look like caricatures to some, but they really are not.
Well if anyone is still reading (because I doubt anyone would care about how much I love Hartley's films) I guess I should say that "No such thing" is a media satire, a satire of religion and of humanity's ethics.
I know that I will look for more Hartley's works.As far as the story goes, like many directors before and after him Hal Hartley re-tells the old but immortal legend of Beauty and the Beast which is set in the modern, post 9/11 (even though the movie was made before September 11, 2001) world.
They are searching for a famed doctor who has managed to manipulate the law of physics to create a force that 'may' be strong enough to break this unbreakable monster, but first, the monster has to clean up his act.I have always liked Sarah Polley, I think that was why I was drawn to this film.
In a weird rendition of "Beauty and the Beast" the monster (played by Robert John Burke) - who by the way is apparently American - resides on a rock in Iceland far away from civilisation.
Not exactly sure what the point was of all this - why tell a serious story about a monster set in modern times, only to make it even more far-fetched with an exaggerated reality more fitting for a satire or a Monty Python sketch?Soon after we are forced to survive about 30 minutes of filler, where Beatrice becomes a revered almost supernatural personality, because of surviving an airline crash.
I can't however say the same about Sarah Polley, who in my opinion gave the most bland and forgettable performances of her lifetime.All in all give this one the pass, unless you want to see some nice pictures of Iceland or are interested in the weird and mildly intriguing ending (the only part of the movie that actually worked)..
They call this flick a dark comedy, but it fails in both.The monster makeup and the character is interesting enough, and Polley does a decent job of playing a naive girl thats being manipulated by her boss, but there was a lot of potential for story wasted in very long drawn out scenes.I understand the film is a cross between beauty and the beast and a modern commentary on media corruption or some such but it just doesn't hit home.
The characters are almost too withdrawn for the audience to make any kind of meaningful connection and potentially humorous situations go by without even a chuckle.It felt like certain characters and elements of the film were thrown together at the last second (ie the wonderful actress Helen Mirren had little to no poignant moments in the film) and a lot of it just felt like the director was trying to "wing it" until he got to climax..which wasn't all that well constructed or climatic.I really liked the actors in the film but I think they really didn't have much to go on script wise.
Call it "Monster" or "No such thing", it is a bad,boring film directed by Indie cinema wizard Hal Hartley..
However,it is a pity that he has completely goofed up his film "No such thing" as it is nothing short of a big bad joke.Many viewers might complain that this Hal Hartley film is something of an incomplete cinema as its characters have not been fully developed.Some viewers might also feel that by making a rather obscure film about a monster in a foreign land,Hal Hartley has attempted to distance himself from independent cinema movement.The only best thing which works wonders in "No Such Thing" concerns actress Sarah Polley's fortuitous transformation from a coffee maker to a beautiful journalist who achieves instant fame by bringing a weird monster to USA.Among other actors,Helen Mirren is wicked as ever as a boss who would like to get best news for her channel.For Hal Hartley,Icelandic setting also does not help much as the plot of his film is muddled as it has all the shades of a film which has been made in an agonizing hurry.This might be one of the plausible reasons why his film had a limited distribution despite the fact that it was chosen for "Un Certain Regard" section during Cannes International Film Festival 2001.
How did this thing get past being a script?How did Helen Mirren and Julie Christie become involved in this project?It sort of feels like they were all at a party and someone said, "Let's make up a movie!" And they started writing, with everybody throwing in ideas.
This movie describes the stupidity of the human being from the reviewer, and at the same time, sensible point of view of the sadly outcasted monster, with admirable simplicity; it's a sweet and heavy and funny and sad film.
I've never met an immortal monster that existed since time began, but if I did, I'd be willing to bet that it would be a lot like this guy.Polley also does a good job with the bizarre material she's given, especially in the beginning and the end of the film.
"No Such Thing" is a post-apocalyptic "Beauty and the Beast." Though Hal Hartley's the-future-is-now satirical plot was probably written and filmed before 9/11 and got overtaken by the real unthinkable happening in New York City and media wars that are almost beyond parody, it is still a wistful meditation on the nature of humanity.With his opening line resonant of "Moby Dick" -- "I'm not the monster I once was."-- Robert John Burke effectively and entertainingly uses his Kenneth Nordine-like voice to project The Monster's existential emotions and eternal intelligence under complex make-up.Sarah Polley's innocent ingénue is intentionally out of place in NYC -- but works well with The Monster in Iceland and beyond.
Two old broads, Helen Mirren and Julie Christie, get to strut their stuff in atypical roles for Polley to also play off of.Michael Spiller's cinematography is gorgeous, particularly in Iceland.Hartley's own music is mesmerizing throughout and its probably not unintentional that the leitmotif is reminiscent of "The Twilight Zone" theme.While I got that the climactic scene with The Monster is an ironic parallel to the earlier medical miracle that saved Polley's character, I'm not 100% sure if the denouement is certain, except that one of course thinks of the closing line of "King Kong."(originally written 4/20/2002).
Because the film's about a literal monster, played by Robert John Burke, who looks like a cross between Satan, a reptile and a grouchy dude.
Helen Mirren plays a loathsome news media executive and Julie Christie a doctor who helps rehabilitate Beatrice.Needless to say, this is an odd dramedy/fantasy that's so unique there's really "No Such Movie," which explains the mixed reviews.
The apostle Paul put it like so: "Bad company corrupts good character." This explains why Beatrice tells the monster she fears him at the end while simultaneously hugging (loving) him: She needed to carry out her duty -- compassionately putting the creature out of its misery -- because his intrinsic evil was starting to rub off!.
The scene with the junky/hostess, the blackout through pain, the "redemptive" ending ("" alluding to the insightful comments of an earlier post.)Beneath all the clunkiness and oddity, the restraint of the monster really was sweet.Odd, and let's hope it's commercial and critical failure hasn't heralded the end of HH.Recommended snack for watching this film: Any canape you can think of that involves olives, but substitute pineapple chunks for olives.
This feeling was reinforced by the tone of the mis-en-scene which in no way feels like it belongs in any type of horror movie so much so I thought I might be watching another film titled NO SUCH THING but as the titles came up it confirmed this was the film I referenced on Wikipedia The film itself isn't entirely inept where the technicalities such as editing and cinematography are concerned though the incidental music seems entirely inappropriate .
I want to nominate for the Obscure Movie of the Month...No Such thing.A delightful and imaginative 'monster movie' that sent me immediately to IMDb to give it my 10 points where I was glad but not surprised to see that I was not in the minority Where do I start to explain a horror movie that has no comparison except *maybe* Beauty and the Beast ?In a America where terrorists regularly load dynamite on to the Manhattan bridge and subways are routinely evacuated because of nerve gas releases a young unappreciated journalist is allowed by her chain smoking, sensation seeking news editor, played with aplomb by Helen Mirren, to go to Iceland in search of her missing fiancé, a camera crew member, only to wind up the lone survivor of a trans Atlantic airplane crash and pieced back together by doctors.
You ain't seen nothing quite like this.Whoever thought of this story (writer/director Hal Hartley) has some imagination and I will be looking for more of his work.Bravissimo !!!.
Because films like this, that actually try to say something, never have a chance at hell competing against the studio grind.Hal Hartley is a true original, just wish there was more than five people in the theater to view his passionate work.
She starts to take a liking to him and he feels the same way, despite his immortality.Written & Directed by Hal Hartley (Amateur, Flirt, Trust) made a unique, one of a kind film.
I don't usually look at user comments, but I had to see all the people who got tricked into seeing a Hal Hartley movie thinking they were going to see the girl teach the monster about love and how great it feels to use its powers for good and how society can learn to not judge people by what's on the outside.
I saw a preview screening of 'No Such Thing' so my commentary will be on that, not the finished product.It started out rather interesting, but I kept scratching my head about pretty much everything that went on.The dialog, the characters, their motivation....what the director was trying to accomplish was a complete mystery.Perhaps I consume too much entertainment pablum [I actually liked the idea of JarJar Binks, but not the accent, found 'On the Beach' engrossing, if depressing, and would really like to see Fox produce Temptation Island 3] but this was a little too much for my taste.Don't get me wrong....
In this one scene several outrageous stories are told and dismissed: "The Federal Government went on strike." "Has the President shot himself yet?" "A movie studio bought all of lower Manhattan." (In response to a list of international catastrophes) "You're reading all last week's news!" "...And keep putting pressure on the mayor," to which she gets the response "Careful Boss, the same studio owns this network."The movie is really about Beatrice, who works at the network serving coffee, but who asks to go to Iceland to find out what happened to a crew they sent there looking for an alleged monster.
But the Boss wants him alive "As long as he's fashinable." When Beatrice, the Monster, and the wacky Dr. Arto escape back to Iceland to do the deed, the Boss is held responsible by Arto's U.S. Marshal escorts and sees this as a news story in itself, a "demonizing of the media." It is revealed by Arto that the Monster, contrary to his belief that he lived forever, was actually a scientific creation he took part in.When all is said and done the movie seems rather pointless, and possibly low-budget given the abrupt ending.
Helen Mirren's character, the briefly seen Dr. Arto, and occasionally even the monster are the saving graces of a good movie gone bad.
The story is interesting, the acting decent, and the cinematography acceptable, but the sum of the parts did not make a cohesive whole, and the movie became muddled and misunderstood, much like the monster himself..
The weird part is that some people really think this is what a good film is, that his is HOW TO do it, how to write, how to tell that great story, how to direct actors.
The desolate landscapes of Iceland are gorgeous and suitable as a place where this monster would choose to live and suffer.As for the actors, I thought Sarah Polley (Beatrice), Robert John Burke (the monster), and Helen Mirren (the news boss) were great.
Beatrice, however, who is wholly good, simply loves the Monster.I think there is no ending to the film because there is no beginning.
It was so completely out of character I thought maybe I had passed out and missed a section of the movie.How did they get the monster on the plane?
But these questions seem to be somehow shoehorned into this really poorly made film.The monster looks and sounds like a rock star. |
tt2751310 | Sex Ed | Ed Cole (Haley Joel Osment) feels like he is letting his life go by without him. He leaves his job at a bagel shop and works as an after-school detention teacher after impressing the principal (Matt Walsh). He moves out of his apartment, allowing his roommate JT (Glen Powell) to engage in kinky sex with his girlfriend Ally (Castille Landon). While working with his students, Ed realizes most of the troubled youths are sexually confused, and begins an after school sex ed program. At the same time JT convinces Ed to have sex with someone to end his dry spell, leading to a disastrous blind date with Trish (Abby Elliott), a former co-ed.
Ed seeks counsel from his landlord Sydney (Retta), who also owns a bar in the apartment building. He meets Pilar (Lorenza Izzo), the adult sister of his student Tito (Kevin Hernandez). He and Pilar hit it off, and she invites Ed to her house for dinner after Tito tells her Ed is his favorite teacher. Pilar's boyfriend Hector (Ray Santiago) belittles Ed and threatens him, leading to the two competing by taking shots of rum. Ed gets sick and vomits on Pilar and Tito's mother, Lupe (Laura Harring). Later Ed apologizes to Pilar, who tells him she and Hector are taking a break. Ed asks her on a date, which she accepts. With the help of JT and Ally, Ed gets his students interested in learning, to the point that other children attend the after school class out of interest.
At the same time Ed's student Leon (Isaac White) gets sent to the principal's office for his behavior, leading to his father Reverend Marcus Hamilton (Chris Williams) challenging Ed's qualifications and reasoning to teach sexual education to the children. Ed asks the Reverend to sit in on a class, but the Reverend is not impressed and decides to shut down the program. Tito tells Ed he wants to have sex with his girlfriend and asks for a condom. Ed tells Tito it's not a good idea, but Tito says he'll do it anyways, forcing Ed to give him a condom. Pilar finds out about this during her date with Ed, and goes home to stop Tito. Ed angrily leaves, but is confronted and beat up by Hector. He then attempts to hire a prostitute, but is caught by the police.
Ed admits to JT that he is a virgin, a fact JT previously knew but chose not to call Ed out on. Ed returns to work at the bagel shop, but then with Sydney's help decides to make a grand gesture to win Pilar back. He plays the oboe for her, despite not being very good at it. Ed and Pilar make up and go on a second date. Pilar decides to visit her favorite club, but Ed is not allowed in by the bouncer (Lamorne Morris). Pilar tells him she'll be right back, but the bouncer assures him she won't be. Hector, in line for the club, confronts Ed, and Ed punches Hector, resulting in the police arresting Ed again. Motivated by his anger, Ed forces his way into Reverend Hamilton's support group with his class, insisting the importance of sex education, which the children support. Ed goes as far as admitting he is a virgin in front of everyone. For his demonstration, Reverend Hamilton is impressed and decides to allow the class.
Pilar shows up at Ed's apartment and tells him she wants to be his first sexual partner, but bitter that she abandoned him at the club, Ed turns her down. She leaves angrily, but passes JT in her underwear, impressing him. Ed is upset that he still has not had sex, but Sydney tells him he is a man now because he is in control of his life, and it has nothing to do with his virginity. A year later, Ed is shown to have one of the most popular classes at the school, and the respect of his students. | boring, adult comedy | train | wikipedia | Let's get this out of the way first: yes, Haley Joel Osment looks-wise isn't the kid who sees dead people or even his 16-year old self in the wonderful "Secondhand Lions".
is he a really good actor.He carries this movie, he makes what could be a one-note or creepy character come alive.
It helps that he has a terrific script to work with, it could easily have turned preachy fast but except for a scene near the end, it's more about Ed, HJO's character, and his lack of self- esteem, awkwardness around women, career frustrations and so on.The rest of the cast is really good as well, especially Lorrenza Izzo as Pilar, Retta as bar owner/landlord Sydney, Matt Walsh as the school administrator Washout and young Isaac White as Leon.
Special note should be made of the band that plays in Sydney's bar, what terrific musicians.If you take this movie for what it is --a low-key, low budget comedy with some points to make-- it's a nice way to spend 90 minutes..
I really enjoyed the transformation of the female lead, Lorenza Izzo, his love interest & found her acting to be seemingly effortless, like she wasn't even on camera.
I had a good time watching this movie, and appreciated the professionalism and craft of the cast.
As long as you are not uptight about hearing the scientific names of parts of the body & some slang equivalents, I know you will enjoy this movie as much or more than I.
If toilet jokes are OK to you, some gags will definitely make you burst out laughing.All in all, "Sex Ed" may not be the movie that the trailer shows, but it doesn't make it any worse.
Such kind, melodramatic comedy, in reality, is a good way to spend an evening with your friends and/or your fiancé, if toilet jokes and topics are OK to them..
Very good comedy if you like School of Rock........
The best way I can put this movie into perspective is that it is School of Rock with rock and roll replaced by sex education.
The kids were great, Hayley Joel Osmant was great, the supporting adults were great, just a great movie.
I rarely write reviews...mainly because I suck at writing them, but this is a good movie and don't believe the naysayers.
"Sex Ed" is a humorous story that earns a lot of laughter, and as a plus, it advocates sexual education in schools and open communication on the subject.
This element alone bumped up this comedy to a level that earns my respect.The best aspect of the film is Haley Joel Osment's character.
I also enjoyed seeing some performances from those young actors who portrayed middle school students, especially Isaac White.
Ed Cole (Haley Joel Osmont) is a former student teacher who falls on hard times and finds himself working at a bagel shop.
However, Ed is unable to find a position teaching in his specialist subjects and reluctantly takes on the role of taking an after school class of detention kids.
Ed quickly learns that the kids aren't currently learning Sex Ed and takes it upon himself to start teaching a course on Sex Ed much to the dismay of Reverend Marcus Hamilton (Chris Williams) who happens to be the strict father of one of the children in Ed's class.My first thoughts when watching this film is that it kind of reminded me of Dangerous Minds (albeit a watered down and much less gritty version of the same film).
I haven't seen Dangerous Minds for quite some time, but I don't recall feeling that it wasn't gearing itself to the wrong audience and ultimately that is what the biggest problem is with Sex Ed.For a start it makes teaching kids lessons in Sex Ed the focus of most of its plot; explaining to kids what all the various body parts are, how to put condoms on, what all the 'scientific' words are called etc - this is all fine and I can see that to older children or young teenagers that this may be of interest and educational.
I'm really not sure why the filmmakers chose this approach when it probably would have been funnier if it would have been a clean comedy focusing on a sexually inexperienced teacher struggling to teach children about Sex Ed (at least that way it might have been a film that a family could perhaps sit down and watch together and would have at least appealed more to its intended target audience).
The problem is that it doesn't play out like this and to be honest I thought that Ed got the kids onside a little too easily - I felt there were way more opportunities available to make the classrooms scenes funnier.Another problem for me is that even when I looked beyond the fact that as a man in my 30's I clearly wasn't the target audience the film just isn't that funny and just seemed full of clichés.
Haley Joel Osmont's character is a pathetic guy, but he's like this all the way through the film and to be honest it's mildly depressing.In all honesty, Sex Ed's confusing tone is its biggest enemy; it's central story is about Sex Ed and the film does a reasonable job of raising awareness of the importance of using condoms and in highlighting the possible consequences of not taking precautions whilst having sex (which is great).
A good movie to watch if you just want to relax and enjoy some jokes, hear some dirty language from young kids.
An easy to watch, not complicated comedy with very plain plot, but you can see that in 2014 sex is made to be a very open subject in society, even to young kids, that kind of is the goal of the movie, i feel.
I found that Joel Osment was really a great actor to play the leading role of this movie, since he looks so inexperienced and clumsy from the get go, you really can feel the character and don't have to doubt if he is well suited for the role.
The movie was short, no surprise, since it was a comedy, if you don't have anything to do and just want to enjoy an evening and chill, then it is a good watch..
At least the film has a good message behind it?.
Admittedly, I was a bit bowled over by the movie being made in my hometown, and the novelty of not only recognizing all of the locations they filmed, but then actually seeing those locations get their time to shine as part of the plot (especially The Hub, which is one of the coolest dive-bars in town - not remotely as 'bright' as the film portrayed it, but still fun, nonetheless).
Hector was a very one- dimensional antagonist, and while I now love, and want to see more of, Lorenza Izzo, her character was one of the worst developed in the film.
Was no one bothering to keep any sort of continuity in this film?Overall, great acting in a bad story, but with a good underlying message.
Poor direction, stilted dialogue, and amateur camera work makes this feel very much like a college film you make before you go off to Hollywood..
This was a really awkward movie, but I liked it.
Sure some viewers might bash the heck out of this, pointing their fingers at how much of a loser the protagonist who is a sex ed teacher played by Haley Joel Osment is.
I am sure the viewers that were once a very very nice guy that wasn't getting any can relate to this movie to a degree (which is quite a lot).
This movie didn't seem to have a clear cut message, but that was one of the points it was trying to make and I kinda respect that.
Now I personally like Haley Joel Osment as an actor, he isn't the cute kid he was in his younger years but he knows how to utilize what he has now and I respect that as well.
I personally watched this movie because of Haley Joel Osment and actually enjoyed it.
Good premise but doesn't deliver on story or laughs..
'Sex Ed' has a solid comedic premise: Eddie, a sexually inexperienced 23-year-old teacher, struggles to teach a sex-ed class to middle school kids.
Fine direction from Isaac Feder and good performances from the whole cast, especially Haley Joel Osment, whose boyish charm carries the movie.
Retta's character exists only to offer Eddie corny motivational speeches from behind the bar, and Lorenza Izzo is used exclusively as a prop for Eddie's sexual desires - why she is immediately attracted to his awkward speech and creepy stares, I have no idea.
These characters - along with Eddie's roommate and his girlfriend - flit in and out of the movie when the plot requires them and have no depth or stories of their own.While there is a lot of potential and talent involved in the film, it just isn't funny or interesting enough to hold your attention for 90 minutes..
Osment has done a lot better films, so his acting really isn't to blame here.
I don't really like these kind of movies anyway, so I guess I'm bias..
It's not super original or overly well done, but it is entertaining and the cast do a pretty good job with their roles.
But I love the guy as an adult underdog.Look, in the secular world this character is a loser.
But this guy seems to have been secular.We see this large black lady giving him excellent life advice throughout, but we never hear her back story.
Also, guys don't want advice about how to be a man, from a woman.I'm sorry, but I don't want to hear underage kids talking about sex in a movie.
Were those kids on "detention" throughout the movie, because he had the same kids in the class all the way through.
They originally said they were on detention.The best part of the movie was the main character's male best friend.
It fell flat.The real message here was that alpha-males get the girls, because confidence is the main thing that attracts women to men.
Story: Sex Ed starts by seeing our protagonist Ed (Osment) struggling to find a teaching job.
Upon learning that there is no sex education in the school he decides to teach the students.
Ed has to overcome a Reverend who wants no sex education in the school but the student have fast started calling Ed their favourite student this leads to Ed trying his luck with Pilar a student's sister.Sex Ed comes off mixing two types of films, the first is the teacher who starts off unpopular by both student and parents, while the second is a romantic comedy about finding yourself.
Both stories in Sex Ed play next to each other and work with nice balance.
Sex Ed looks at the importance of teaching young people about sex one way or another and without the proper education they will end up unaware of the side effects.
While on the romantic comedy side we look at how one man's problem are over analysed by both him and his friends when it comes to mixing up sex and love.
Sex Ed is a good comedy and easily one of the better ones out this year.
(8/10)Actor ReviewHaley Joel Osment: Ed Cole the teacher who can't find a job, but by taking the chance he gets a job looking at after school activity co- ordinator and starts teaching them about sex education.
Haley does give a good performance here showing he might have overcome his personal problems and getting his career back on track.
Glen gives a good performance in the supporting role and usually has extra laughs.
(6/10)Support Cast: Sex Ed support cast includes the students, family members of the students and a very wise landlady who each learn and/or give advice to Ed as the story unfolds.Director Review: Isaac Feder – Isaac does a good job to create a good romantic comedy that balance to focused stories very well.
(7/10)Settings: Sex Ed only uses a couple of settings but each one gives us good identity to which story we are following.
(8/10)Suggestion: Sex Ed is a romantic comedy that is worth a watch, I will suggest this to any who asks.
(Try It)Best Part: Haley Joel Osment shines.Worst Part: Not enough people will see this when it is clearly better than other comedies out there.Funniest Scene: Ed walks in on JT for a second time.Believability: Sex Ed tackles very real issues and looks at the challenging issue that could stop the issues getting solved.
I've had times within my life where I just feel lonely and desperate similar to the main character, Cole.
I've had times where my life felt great and where finding someone to get to know wasn't difficult.
This stage of life or feeling is referred to in the movie as a "dry spell" which is something that I, a 17 year old teenager just graduating high school, am fairly aware of.
While watching his movie that scene within the bar really inspired me to try and go out to find some girls and to hopefully end my 'dry spell'.
Cole eventually realized that it wasn't important whether he got girls or had sex and that all that truly mattered was that he had to be true to himself.
The film attempts to use humor to demonstrate the need for real sex education in the classroom especially in the day and age of the uncontrolled, uncensored Internet.
(Enjoy it while you can.) Edward Cole (Haley Joel Osment) is trained as a math teacher and can't get a job in Florida as one, believe it or not in world that screams for math teachers.
He discovers there is a real need to teach the kids sex education, against the wishes of Rev. Hamilton (Chris Williams).
Hamilton claims the kids should learn sex ed at home, although this is not getting done.The film tries to be funny by creating quirky characters who give us advice like, "Never do two illegal things at one time." The dialogue left something to be desired.
"The Internet will teach you the wrong things about sex".
Yes. The Internet will teach you many wrong things about sex.
A movie that - oh, the irony - will teach you many wrong things about dating and courting.
Haley Joel Osment plays a loser who can't get the teaching job of his dreams.
He decides to teach sex ed during detention.
Yes, let's have one of the kids' parents be a reverend, opposed to sexual education in school.
Cue bar woman/landlady who knows all the ins and outs of life, love, sex, and being a man, and muscular "bro" former flatmate with a good heart.
Let's have the hottie sister of one of the students develop an interest in a guy that, erm, stutters and makes awkward, borderline creepy, talk the first time he sees her, gets invited to dinner at her family's house, and pukes on her mom's breast, invites her out the second after she says she and her cartoonish latino low-rider driving bad boy boyfriend are giving it time, plays her the oboe (yes, the oboe) badly to apologize for giving her brother condoms, and...you get the idea.I know, we have seen it many times in movies.
But the interaction between Haley Joel Osment and Lorena Izzo had me shouting at the screen.
The only saving grace is that he did not have sex with the bar woman/landlady, as the "do it with an ugly woman" first.Seriously, one of the worst films I have ever seen.
Because I pity the kids, or even young adults, who see it, and think this is the way to go about courting a woman.
This movie tried to make lessons on sex education funny, entertaining, and yet meaningful.
And if a teacher is still a virgin then he should be a student of sex ed himself.To top it off he has an opportunity to have sex with a really hot Latina towards the end, and while it is not required that he does, the ended of "Im cool just as I am" comes off extremely cheesy.I had a hard time deciding if this film was for adults or trouble-some children.
I saw this off Netflix over the weekend, and, having seen Haley Joel Osment ("The Sixth Sense") in a few "grown-up" supporting roles in the past few years, I think this was the perfect first grown-up starring role for him.
He stars as a new teacher at an inner-city school who decides the students need a more realistic take on sexuality, and hence starts a sex-ed course.
I will say I liked HJO in this role, and there were things about this movie I liked, especially that rascal student "Leon" (I think was his name-??
Some of that is necessary in a story titled "Sex Ed", but just like using too much seasoning to spoil a good meal, this script overdoes its dirty language.If you had to cast a character who is nerdy and still a virgin it would be hard to make a better pick than Haley Joel Osment.
But that sparked his desire to begin a sex education class.Much of the story is Ed trying to come to grips with his virginity and find his own way with the women, while convincing parents that having sex education is a good thing, to let the kids learn the real science behind reproduction and STDs instead of learning the wrong things on the street.Anyone sensitive to lots of dirty dialog and description of sex acts should not watch this movie.
But for those who actually seek out that type of movie this one is probably very funny. |
tt0030601 | Porky & Daffy | It all starts at the home of Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. Porky's relationship with Daffy is strained, as he is a lazy sloth. Porky has found an ad inviting all comers to take on a boxing rooster named The Champ. Porky has trouble waking Daffy up, but eventually does so by clanging a dinner platter over his head. This causes him to immediately go crazy and start warming up for a boxing match.
Later, at a jam-packed boxing ring, Porky volunteers Daffy to fight the Champ after all the other fighters run off scared. Despite the fact that he blows off Daffy's XXX sacks of flour (which he used to make himself look more muscular) and acts like a lion, Daffy is unfazed and simply retaliates by acting like a lion tamer, driving him back with a chair and whip. After the pelican announcer's longwinded introductions, the fight begins. (Daffy: "Sold- to the American Tabasco Company!")
In Round 1, the announcer reminds them "no hitting below the belt", so Daffy raises his shorts to cover all but his head. The Champ then blows his shorts off. Daffy flees, but with a reminder from Porky, gets on his "tricycle", wheeling through midair, and soon going so fast that the slower Champ cannot keep up, using the advantage to repeatedly punch him. Once he is out of sight, the announcer and the Champ look around for Daffy, only to discover he has hidden inside the pelican's beak. The Champ beats up the announcer to get to Daffy, finally catching him.
He knocks him out, and Porky is forced to rush back to their home to get the dinner platter and wake him up again before ten-count. Daffy awakens in his frenzy again, and begins ferociously attacking the Champ without regard to his situation, ducking all of his blows eventually knocking him out. The announcer counts to ten, and Daffy wins. Daffy wakes him up by clanging the platter, and he goes into a frenzy much like Daffy did. Iris out. | psychedelic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0067128 | Get Carter | Newcastle-born gangster Jack Carter has lived in London for years in the employ of organised crime bosses Gerald and Sid Fletcher. Jack is sleeping with Gerald's girlfriend Anna and plans to escape with her to South America. But first he must return to Newcastle and Gateshead to attend the funeral of his brother Frank, who died in a purported drunk-driving accident. Unsatisfied with the official explanation, Jack investigates for himself. At the funeral Jack meets his teenage niece Doreen and Frank's evasive mistress Margaret. It is later implied that Doreen might actually be Jack's daughter.
Jack goes to Newcastle Racecourse seeking old acquaintance Albert Swift for information about his brother's death, however Swift spots Jack and evades him. Jack encounters another old associate, Eric Paice, who refuses to tell Jack who is employing him as a chauffeur. Tailing Eric leads him to the country house of crime boss Cyril Kinnear. Jack bursts in on Kinnear, who is playing poker, but learns little from him; he also meets a glamorous drunken woman, Glenda. As Jack leaves, Eric warns him against damaging relations between Kinnear and the Fletchers. Back in town, Jack is threatened by henchmen who want him to leave town, but he fights them off, capturing and interrogating one to find out who wants him gone. He is given the name "Brumby".
Jack knows Cliff Brumby as a businessman with controlling interests in local seaside amusement arcades. Visiting Brumby's house Jack discovers the man knows nothing about him and, believing he has been set up, he leaves. The next morning two of Jack's London colleagues arrive, sent by the Fletchers to take him back, but he escapes. Jack meets Margaret to talk about Frank, but Fletcher's men are waiting and pursue him. He is rescued by Glenda who takes him in her sports car to meet Brumby at his new restaurant development at the top of a multi-storey car park. Brumby identifies Kinnear as being behind Frank's death, also explaining that Kinnear is trying to take over his business. He offers Jack £5,000 to kill the crime boss, which he flatly refuses.
Jack has sex with Glenda at her flat, where he finds and watches a pornographic film where Doreen is forced to have sex with Albert Swift. The other participants in the film are Glenda and Margaret. Overcome with emotion, Jack becomes enraged and pushes Glenda's head under water as she is taking a bath. She tells him the film was Kinnear's, and that she thinks Doreen was 'pulled' by Eric. Forcing Glenda into the boot of her car, Jack drives off to find Albert.
Jack tracks Albert down at a betting shop. Albert confesses he told Brumby that Doreen was, indeed, Frank's daughter. Brumby showed Frank the film to incite him to call the police on Kinnear. Eric and two of his men arranged Frank's death. Information extracted, Jack fatally knifes Albert. Jack is attacked by the London gangsters and Eric, who has informed Fletcher of Jack and Anna's affair. Jack shoots one of them dead. As Eric and the others escape they push the sports car into the river with Glenda trapped inside. Returning to the car park Jack finds Brumby, beats him senseless and throws him over the side to his death. He then posts the pornographic film to the vice squad at Scotland Yard in London.
Jack abducts Margaret at gunpoint. He telephones Kinnear in the middle of a wild party, telling him he has the film and makes a deal for Kinnear to give him Eric in exchange for his silence. Kinnear agrees, sending Eric to an agreed location; however, he subsequently phones a hitman to dispose of Jack. Jack drives Margaret to the grounds of Kinnear's estate, kills her with a fatal injection and leaves her body there. He then calls the police to raid Kinnear's party.
Jack chases Eric along a beach. He forces Eric to drink a full bottle of whisky as he did to Frank, then beats him to death with his shotgun. As Jack is walking along the shoreline, he is shot through the head by the hitman with a sniper rifle. | cult, revenge, neo noir, murder | train | wikipedia | Michael Caine stars as Jack Carter, a tough no nonsense operator in the London underworld who returns to his home town of Newcastle Upon Tyne when his brother turns up dead.
Yet Jack is not devoid of heartfelt emotion, his family ties are strong, and there is a point in the film when Jack sheds a tear, it is then when we all know that all bets are off and there will be no coming back from this particular abyss.Hodges and cinematographer Wolfgang Suschitzky strip it all back for maximum impact, so much so you can smell the salt of the murky sea, feel your lungs filling up with chimney smoke, the whiff of working class sweat is all around, and all the time Roy Budd's contemporary musical score jingles and jangles over proceedings like a dance of death waiting to reach its operatic conclusion.
And with Caine backed up by a roll call of super working class character actors, Get Carter just gets better as each decade of film making passes.Like its antagonist/protagonist (yes, Jack is both, a deliberate contradiction) it's a film as hard as nails, where home format releases should be delivered through your letterboxes in a metal case.
Caine helps a film that needs that star quality- other actors like John Osbourne as the Big Gangster Kinnear and Ian Hendry as Eric do well enough if only good performances- and where the film digs into some subversive, dark terrain, we have to keep watching it to see how Caine can pull it off.Another perk for Hodges is how he deals with the action.
Here he encounter a world of sleaze, booze, violence, casual sex and people in search of easy money.Hard to call it a classic early British gangster film given that they were so few around, but more a cracking thriller that makes full use of its cast, plot and (unusual) Newcastle Upon Tyne location.Writer-Director Mike Hodges wanted violence with reality and he delivers it with real punch.
Unlike most thrillers bystanders are not immune from the action and at various stages harsh punishment is handed out for minor crimes by anti-hero Caine.Caine underplays his hardman role nicely - letting the action, rather than his emotions, tell the story.Several people claim real-life events "inspired" this story, but as far as I can tell the only direct reference to real events is that the one-arm bandit business started to earn big money (in the North East) and London gangsters "wanted in." That lead to bloodshed, but that is not the thrust of this film - although one of the main characters is, indeed, in that business.Having gone to the trouble of reading the screenplay, I was surprised how thin the dialogue was.
This is a good example of how it is better to "show" things rather than "tell." I did learn, however, that the thugs that come to beat Caine up are supposed to be gay - one may wear a pink neckerchief but I thought that was just the dandy fashions of the day!Those that are not familiar with Newcastle may also like to note that the place is nowhere near the sea, in case you decide to take a holiday up there and are thinking of packing your trunks!On release the film did well enough in the UK, but died a death in the USA due to being released as a double bill with Dirty Dingus Magee: A terrible Frank Sinatra movie.If you like hard-edged thrillers that don't play nice then Get Carter may well be worth your time and effort..
British gangster classic starring Michael Caine as the eminently quotable, ultimately tough Jack Carter Hard to believe that a major studio felt the need to remake this British gangster classic, which ranks up there with the likes of The Long Good Friday as one of the finest home grown films of the past 30 years.
Caine, as in the majority of his signature roles, is superbly armed with a set of eminently quotable one-liners ("You're a big man, but you're out of shape" tops the bill this time), and as emotionally detached and violently ruthless as Point Blank's similarly vengeful Lee Marvin, while director Hodges paints a gritty, bleak picture of the gangster underworld.
This film has a stunning Michael Caine play cold-blooded gangster Jack Carter on a quest for vengeance.
Newcastle itself, it has to be said,looks as cold and ruthless as Jack Carter himself and wouldnt be used by the North of England tourist board.Look out for some first rate performances especially Ian Hendry and the playwrite John Osbourne as a sinister Mr Big.The film is violent and uncompromising but also very entertaining with a neat line in black humour.
Carter, though no hero, is a great character, make no mistake about that, and he shows just enough emotion for the audience to identify with him: like when he stumbles across his dead brother's daughter in some seedy porn film, and the whole motivation for his revenge mission in the first place.
Get Carter though, exists in our world, and the superb characters, acting and writing make it totally believable - even when Michael Caine walks naked out of the door of his seedy B & B with his shotgun to escort out some local hoods, the most memorable thing you remember about the scene is the previously belligerent moaning old lady neighbour scurrying into her house, terrified.
Revenge ensues summarily, though director Mike Hodges, like Boorman before him and Soderbergh after, appreciates the boundaries of fatalism, the development toward the truth leading into the ocean, soggy and gloomy.Violence breeds violence, which breeds more violence in this enjoyable British gangster picture, a seminal film for Michael Caine, who sharpened his ability in his string of crime films in the 1960s, particularly in this one, to give such a charismatic and arresting performance as a character who has no intention---and neither do the filmmakers---of making us like him.
The spare, stationary camera-work is first-rate, capturing whole scenes in single unobtrusive let stylishly done takes, and Jack Carter's vicious and merciless revenge plays out against the backdrop of smoke-filled pubs, private social clubs and derelict urban housing, shot on location, a very clever approach as it includes intriguing spots like an apparently well-known raw concrete multi-storey parking garage with a rooftop café and a level in the process of being developed into a restaurant.
However, unlike Ritchie's films and what makes Get Carter more interesting overall is that it makes little to no attempt to be endearing, light-hearted or funny; its title character is cold-blooded, cruel and even unkind.In spite of its indulgences and what would become Hodges' signature lagging pace, Get Carter is a taut, potent procedural that doesn't bother with pious platitudes about the inability to live with a guilty conscience, that one doesn't want to see oneself as a bad guy, and instead gives us what is probably a much more realistic rendering of a gangster inhabiting a gang-controlled world, a guy who's content to see himself as a "villain," as he calls himself.
the question that continues to haunt me about this film, is, why does jack carter want to avenge his brother - that question may seem off the wall; modern western audiences have long accepted, as established fact, that revenge is generally a good thing, a kind of 'wild justice' as a philosopher once called it.outside of being utterly wrong and inevitably leading to unnecessary violence, this attitude makes it difficult to raise the really difficult question concerning any one particular act of revenge, namely, what is the real motivation to it.
which clearly makes him one of the most self-centered 'revengers' in film history.what hodge - borrowing inspiration from the lee Marvin film point blank - and Caine have done is to lure us into a frame of mind such that we expect carter to at last prove himself heroic, or perhaps tragic, or in some other way tangibly human - only to reveal the painful truth that he is none of these.
An excellent noir cinema produced by Michael Caine and very well directed by Mike Hodges ; an extremely tough movie burdened by cruel murders and seedy characters , based on a novel titled 'Get Carter' by Ted Lewis from 1970 .
This brutal , austere crime-thriller focuses a cheerless enforcer Jack Carter (Michael Caine) , a tough , amoral gangster who works as a killer at the town .
When his brother dies under mysterious circumstances in a car accident , London gangster Jack Carter travels to Newcastle to investigate and meets nasty characters who may have been involved .
Adequate musical score by Roy Budd with a rare mixture , the dark psychedelia of the movement "Northen Soul" , so fashionable in the proletarian clubs from the north of England of the 70s .This British 1971 film "GET CARTER¨ is an original movie and is far superior subsequent 1972 remake , a Black Gangster version titled ¨The hit-man¨, a Blaxploitiation movie regularly directed by George Armitage with Bernie Casie , Pam Grier , Roger E Mosley and Paul Gleason .
There isn't much character development for Michael Caine as Carter, but he is still good in a quiet, reserved performance.One surprise for me was that the film starred the famous English playwright John Osborne as one of the northern gangsters (Cyril).
I really thought the setting of the film is one of the most enjoyable parts of it, and alongside the haunting music really captures your interest more than it would in another location.If you want to recapture life in Britain in the 1970's you will love this movie, and it has some of the best British actors in it like Caine and Ian Hendry.
But what really shines is the exceptional performance from Michael Caine, playing as a man loyal, and caring, to his family: and mercilessly sadistic to everyone else.It opens with him viewing an array of pornography clips (which play a huge part to the plot in this film) with a variety of crime partners, bosses, and whores, and then his journey up to Newcastle where he finds, unexpectedly his brother in a coffin.
Mike Hodges interpretation of Ted Lewis's book, 'Jack's Return Home' is subtle but brilliant in execution.The overall atmosphere of the film, particularly the setting; Newcastle in the early 1970's is suffused with an aura of greyness,decay and corruption, the antithesis of the swinging 60's.Michael Caine's performance in particular is a masterpiece of understated menace combined with an assassin's smile and just enough drop-dead funny lines to lighten the leaden atmosphere.
The central figure of this film, Jack Carter, is a London gangster who returns to his roots in Newcastle (a large city in the North-East of England, for non-British readers) following the death of his brother Frank.
Like many of the best British films, Get Carter has what I would describe as a strong spirit of place, achieved in this case by the use of local dialect and of real-life north-eastern locations, such as the Tyne Bridge or the bleak stretch of coastline where coal waste is dumped into the sea and which forms the backdrop to the film's final scene.
For all his sharp suits and fast cars, Michael Caine's Carter (one of his best acting performances) is still no more than a ruthless street thug; a poor boy made bad at a time when other poor boys were making good.
The scene where Carter engages in phone sex in front of his landlady alone is worth the price of admission: outrageous, dark, funny, brilliantly written, and chilling, it reminds you there was a time when the movies were as dangerous and exciting as off-Broadway theatre.Michael Caine defines the anti-hero with his performance.
Suspecting foul play after learning of his brother's death, a ruthless gangster returns home to find those responsible in this iconic British crime drama starring Michael Caine.
London gangster Jack Carter (Michael Caine) goes to Newcastle for his brother's funeral and investigate his death.
And in the case of Get Carter, that premise is very appealing.The movie begins with Jack Carter, (Michael Caine), an London gangster who is on his way to his hometown in Newcastle.
STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning London gangster Jack Carter (Michael Caine) travels up north to Newcastle to investigate the mysterious death of his brother.
Instead the movie is more personal and humane and shows a realistic character, dealing with some tough personal situations when his brother dies and he starts to suspect it was foul play.It of course also helps that the main character is being played by Michael Caine, who is of course still successful now days but perhaps did his best work in the '70's and even prior to that.
My fav film of all time.have seen this over 30 times.captures British film making at its best when at the time America were buying our films believe it or not!!!Jack carter is a man on a mission and is no better than the people he is up against in avenging his brothers death but you get a sense of empathy towards the one man against the mob which carries him all the way through to the brutal end and its pretty grim but realistic pulls no punches has cutting dialogue and great acting throughout.look out for a rare film appearance from john osborne who is frighteningly creepy as kinnear.great film love it!!The film also contains real villains such as john bindon infamous London mobster who turned to acting as sid fletcher but blink and you miss him near the start of the film.also the gritty scenes of old newcastle before re-generation give it a more grimy feel..
get carter to me is a very very good film indeed, as ism from north-east england myself the film makes me feel very much at home what with the surroundings and accents of the characters i was not born until nine years after this film was released and just looking at the locations then and now it makes me realise how much the north-east has changed beyond recognition, many still look exactly the same of course such as the many bridges spanning the river tyne, but when it comes to the pubs and streets etc you would be forgiving for thinking it was a different city,the scene where Michael Caine goes to see his brothers car at the scrapyard seems very down to earth to me just the use of language as well as the high level bridge in the background.
Caine plays Jack Carter, a gangster who returns to his home town Newcastle Upon Tyne, to investigate the mysterious death of his brother, killed in a supposed drink driving accident.
With films by the likes of Guy Ritchie making up the current British gangster movie market, it's a shame more young people haven't seen this classic, understated original.
Michael Caine gives what should have been an Oscar winning performance as the gangland hitman Jack carter.Set in the backdrop of 60's Newcastle this film is a story of revenge on the highest scale.
He plays Jack Carter, a small time London gangster who travels to the town of Newcastle to investigate the death of his brother Frank.
Even for this movie, it's challenging to have the bad counter the good here.In this crime thriller, Michael Caine plays a real life British gangster named Jack Carter.
Michael Caine stars (in a brilliant performance) as Jack Carter, a tough & ruthless gangster from London who travels to Newcastle to investigate his brothers death, and uncovers the fact that he was murdered, so systematically sets out to avenge him by killing everyone responsible, no matter who, or how powerful, which ultimately puts him at odds against his own gang...Director Mike Hodges creates a unique atmosphere of menace, well capturing its time and place, making this a true time capsule of a film.
Michael Caine stars in this revenge crime drama as a Gangster from London who decides to look in to the suspicious death of his brother.his investigation ends up ruffling some feathers,and Jack becomes a target.i won't say anything else about the story.you'll have yo watch the movie to find out more.i' will say that this is not what you would call an action packed movie.it moves at a moderate pace.it's not boring.things are always happening,just not at a frenetic pace.and every scene occurs for a reason,even if it doesn't appear that way.at least that's the impression i felt.but it's really the acting that's the anchor here.Caine is great as the title character who won't give up,until he finds the answers.the supporting cast is also good.for me,Get Carter is a 7/10.
In some cases, this film is quite funny and you have been warned, its quite violent and nasty that it doesn't deserve to have a bad ending with Michael Caine's gangster character being regarded as a fallen hero..
In Mike Hodges' celebrated film 'Get Carter', Michael Caine plays a 1970s gangster searching for revenge for his dead brother against a backdrop of iconic Tyneside locations.
Carter Got His Gun. When his brother dies under the suspicious circumstances, tough and ruthless London gangster, Jack Carter (Michael Caine) goes to Newcastle to investigate his death.
Classic British crime thriller with Michael Caine as Jack Carter, an enforcer for the London mob who goes back to home to Newcastle to discover the reasons behind his brother's death.
Michael Caine is awesome as Jack Carter, and oozes charisma and style while simultaneously being the hardest character seen in film for a long time.
An excellent film starring Michael Caine who portrays a bespoked London-based gangster named Jack Carter who travels a town in northern England to avenge the death of his brother. |
tt0086017 | No habrá más penas ni olvido | Ricardo Guglielmini is the mayor of Colonia Vela, a small country village in an undisclosed province of central Argentina. He plots with Héctor Suprino, a local Peronist spin doctor, and Reinaldo, a union leader, to get the town's deputy mayor, Ignacio Fuentes, kicked out of office, due to his increasing popularity, which threatens Guglilemini's decades-long hold on the mayorship.
Fuentes is told that he has to fire his assistant Mateo because of his Marxist sympathies. Fuentes, despite disagreeing with Marxist ideals himself, declines, refusing to be politically strong-armed. Taking advantage of this, Guglilemini publicly accuses Fuentes of aiding communist guerillas as an excuse to fire him or get him to resign. When Fuentes refuses, Gugliemini sends the police to arrest him, but Fuentes, rather than cave in to the pressure, takes to arms and then barricades himself in the town hall, along with his allies and friends; Mateo, Corporal García, Juan, Rodrigo, Moyito and Crazy Ceres. Guglielmini orders the police to storm the building, which leads to a massive stand-off between the local police force and Fuentes' men. The counter-Fuentes operation, led by Chief Llanos and Sub-Chief Rossi, initially only attempts to threaten Fuentes into surrendering, but soon evolves into a real shootout when members of the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance, led by Rogelio Almeido, show up and intervene. During the shootout with the AAA, Moyito is killed and several police officers are wounded, which leads to a temporary ceasefire and a deadlock. Juan sneaks out through the back to look for the local crop duster pilot, Cerviño, in order to convince him to help Fuentes by conducting an aerial attack as a distraction so he can sneak more ammo and explosives into the building.
As night falls, a group of delusional local leftist guerrilla youths, led by Matilda Gómez, gather in an abandoned warehouse and make a completely unrealistic and blatantly flawed plan to use the conflict as a means to start a civil war in Argentina, take over the government and convert the country into a communist state. They start out by kidnapping Chief Llanos and holding him for a ransom of several tons of explosives and weaponry. Not wanting to give more resources to the communists, Guglielmini abandons Llanos and declares Rossi the new police chief. Rossi leads a new attack on Fuentes, this time using bulldozers as cover to advance on the town hall. Rodrigo and Crazy Ceres are killed during this attack and Fuentes, García and Mateo are barely saved because Cerviño arrives in the nick of time and sprays pesticides all over the police with his plane, causing them to temporarily disperse.
The guerrillas attack the local union with a pipe bomb, killing Reinaldo, which prompts the AAA agents to abandon the fight against Fuentes and instead attempt to kill the guerrilla troopers. Famed local Radical former senator Prudencio Gúzman attempts to negotiate with the communists for Llanos' release, but the peace talks fall through and Llanos is ultimately executed.
The police regroup and prepare for a third attack. In order to buy some time and distract Rossi, Mateo turns himself in while Fuentes, García and Juan prepare a bomb with the explosives the latter had previously brought in. Regardless of Mateo's surrender, the raid proceeds and, when the police storms the town hall, the bomb goes off, killing several police officers and giving Fuentes, García and Juan enough time to escape through the back. In retaliation, Almeido kills Mateo. Despite managing to escape the town hall, the trio are soon found by the police and Fuentes and García are taken captive. Juan, however, manages to escape. Desperate, he contacts the guerrillas, who promise to help free Fuentes and García if Juan shows them where he keeps his explosives stash. Juan additionally convinces Cerviño to cause one more diversion with his plane.
Juan and the guerrillas, this time led by Matilda Gómez herself, carry out an attack on the school. First, Cerviño uses his plane to drop manure on the police, distracting them long enough to allow Juan and Matilda to sneak into the building. Once inside, they bust García free, but due to AAA reinforcements, they're forced to leave Fuentes behind. The AAA and the communists face off in a massive shootout inside the school, which ends with most people on both sides dead.
Cerviño and his plane are followed by one of the few surviving AAA members, who shoots him when he lands. While fleeing the shootout at the school, Matilda and the other three surviving guerrillas get blown up by Almeido, who finishes them off in a suicide bombing. Suprino severely beats Fuentes and then Guglielmini tries to talk him into taking the blame for the whole ordeal. When he refuses, Guglielmini and Suprino leave, letting Rossi execute Fuentes. While leaving town, Suprino realizes Guglielmini plans to frame him for inciting the whole incident, so he runs him over with his truck before escaping.
When morning finally dawns, García and Juan go to Cerviño's house, where they find him, wounded but still alive. To comfort him in his dying moments, they tell him Fuentes won the battle. Cerviño makes them promise to tell General Perón about him if he ever returns to the country, after which he dies. Once they've buried Cerviño, Juan and García begin to head into the countryside while discussing the many ways they could convince Perón to return. The song "Mi Buenos Aires Querido" begins to play as the credits start rolling. | violence, comedy, satire, murder | train | wikipedia | Examines Basis Of Modern Argentine Politics.. Based on a satire by novelist Osvaldo Soriano, this bitter work is also set in the author's abstract rural Argentine village of Colonial Vela in 1974, the year of Juan Perón's death, and is intended as an allegory relating to events that led to a military takeover of the government. It features Federico Luppi whose stated liberal political ideals assured that he would have a lengthy period of cinematic unemployment. Serving as microcosm in a kettle for national turmoil, perceptions of Perón held by two disparate political factions in Colonial Vela are at cross-purposes with right-wing Perónists attempting to oust a municipal clerk whom, although apolitical, is accused of being a Marxist, with a result that his superior, the town administrator (Luppi), comes to the clerk's physical defence against massed forces including the mayor, chief of police and union organizers, along with a collection of hardcore rightists. Farcical humour is employed by director Héctor Olivera, but always in company with cruel violence, disconcerting to a viewer who is not only alert to what may occur next, but also incapable of divining what that may be, thanks to excellent acting by Luppi, Rodolfo Ranni as police chief, Héctor Bidonde as head of the collective right-wingers, and indeed the entire cast is spot on the corrosive intentions of Olivera. This production was shot in the province of Buenos Aires while the ruling generals were yet in power, and was released in the midst of the election period in 1983 when leftist radicals retired the Perónists, an event that this work helped bring about, in large part due to a graphic depiction of right-wing death squads, murdered hostages and torture, being most certainly a film of seminal importance to those having knowledge of the Perónist period; an English language subtitled version is available with translation from the Castilian original being adequate, despite the clumsily created title. In all respects, this is a tightly made effort, not for fans of Evita, either the person or the musical feature.. The dirty little war. Osvaldo Soriano, the author of the novel in which this film is based, got his title from the lyrics of a famous popular tango. His satire was against the military regime that came into being after the second Peron government, a dark period for Argentina, indeed. Hector Olivera directed the film with great sense of style. The screen play was an adaptation by the director and Roberto Cossa.The story takes us to a small town in the interior of the country where a man, who works for the city, has been singled out as being a communist and must be eliminated from his job. The mayor, Ignacio Fuentes, a man of principles, decides to confront the bullies that are trying to impose their own values and have the support of the big man in town, Suprino, who is dead set in purging the bad element from the municipal government, even though Fuentes, is a man that has followed Peron.The confrontation turns violent as Fuentes and his loyal employees do the impossible to resist the attack Suprino, and Llanos, who is in charge of the army, start shooting with all they have. The hand of a strong man is behind all they are doing. Guglielmo, a rich and powerful man wants to have the rebels killed. There is a funny incident in which an aviator, Cervino, loads his small one engine plane with manure and flies all over the people that are fighting Fuentes and drops his "odorous" cargo.The DVD we saw recently is of poor quality. Not having seen the original print, we can't make any assessments, but the story suffers as the dark colors predominate, leaving us in the dark during some key scenes.A great cast was assembled for this film. Some of the best Argentine actors of stage and screen can be seen in it. Best of all, Federico Luppi, who makes Fuentes the best thing in the movie. Hector Bidondi is seen as Suprino. Lauraro Murua plays Dr. Guglielmi, the man behind creating the conflict. Miguel Angel Sola, Victor Laplace, Tacholas, Ulises Dumont, Rodolfo Ranni, are seen in key supporting roles.The film reflects a sad moment in the history of Argentina.. The beginning of the Dirty War. Prior to his return to Argentina in June 1973, former president Juan Domingo Perón, living in exile in Spain, summoned the left wing of his Peronist Party (Montoneros, Peronist Youth and other groups) to create the conditions that would press the military government into allowing him to come back to Argentina and to be a candidate in national elections. Since his overthrow in 1955 he had been banished from Argentina and the Peronist Party was not allowed to participate in elections.The Peronist left, especially the Montoneros, carried out their assignment to perfection creating, by means of guerrilla actions, a climate of tension and uncertainty that convinced the military that the return of Perón was the only alternative to an outright civil war.At the head of his party Perón won the elections in July 1973 by a large margin. Almost immediately he began to appoint to key government positions members of the Peronist right and of organizations like the AAA = Argentine Anticommunist Alliance. There were rumblings from the Montoneros and the left. In May 1974, in a stunning betrayal, Perón disowned the Montoneros in a public speech, in fact expelling them from the Peronist party. The speech had the (intended or unintended) consequence of encouraging the AAA, the military intelligence services and the police to hunt the Peronist left down. It was the official start of the Dirty War, which became especially murderous when the military took power in 1976, lasted until 1981 and cost 30,000 lives.Osvaldo Soriano's novel No Habrá Mas Pena ni Olvido narrates the initial stages of the Dirty War in the fictional small town of Colonia Vela. The title of the novel is taken from the lyrics of a tango sung by Carlos Gardel in the thirties and still known by heart by Argentines of all ages; it literally translates into (a place or a time where) "there will be no suffering or forgetting" and it is associated with Peron's return, that happens sometime before the action takes place. The novel can be qualified as "perfect"; it is short and to the point, intense and deeply moving.Soriano (a journalist in Jacobo Timerman's prestigious but short lived newspaper "La Opinión") took the Argentine literary establishment by storm. He was an admirer (but not an imitator) of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, and his writing style was seldom seen in Argentina outside of pulp fiction; relentless, nonstop action peppered with black humor, supported by spare, at times telegraphic dialogue. Characters come to life through their actions more than through their words. Director Hector Olivera has done a very good job of putting Soriano's novel on screen, although some of the most violent action is better described (as in the book) than shown. He is supported by an excellent cast, the best Argentine actors of the time: Federico Luppi, Ulises Dumont, Julio de Grazia and the veteran Lautaro Murúa in a short but essential role. The other actors are equally excellent.Olivera has been involved (either directing or producing) with more than fifty Argentine movies from 1951 to 2010, most of them through his own production company, Aries Cinematográfica founded with director Fernando Ayala in 1956. Most of this movies have been straight commercial fare, some box-office hits. With the profits, Olivera has been able to produce/direct quite a few quality films. A Funny Dirty Little war is one of them. See the film, then read Soriano's novel if possible in its original Spanish. |
tt0313670 | Sweet Sixteen | In a few weeks, Scottish teenager Liam will turn 16. The film opens with him using his tripod-mounted telescope outdoors on a clear night to show other children the stars and planets. He and his friends exemplify the violent "ned" subculture; they no longer attend school, but instead, hang around isolated areas or wander about all day long. They get money by illicitly selling untaxed cigarettes in a pub, and defy the police. Liam's mother is currently in prison, for a crime she did not commit. She will be released in a few weeks, in time for her son's 16th birthday. She has a boyfriend named Stan, who works as a drug dealer with Liam's grandfather, Rab.
Stan and Rab take Liam in Rab's car on a visit to his mother in Cornton Vale Prison, and try to force him to smuggle drugs to his mother while they create a distraction. In the event, Liam refuses to cooperate by passing the drugs over. When driving home his companions beat him up; he fights back and gets away. Liam arrives back to find that he has been expelled from his grandfather's flat, and his belongings thrown down into the front garden (including his telescope, which has been broken). Liam then moves to his sister Chantelle's nearby home in Port Glasgow. Chantelle agrees to let Liam live in her house if he's good to Chantelle's little son, Calum. She has been taking free evening classes to get work in a call centre, and implores Liam to do the same because she wants Liam to do something more 'constructive' with his own life.
When Liam takes Calum for a walk along Greenock Esplanade, his friend Pinball arrives in a stolen car and insists on taking them joyriding along the coast. They drive up through the Cloch caravan (trailer) park where Liam sees a caravan for sale in a spot overlooking the scenic Firth of Clyde. Liam, who loves his mother very much, fantasizes that he, his sister, and his mother can escape to the seaside and live in the caravan, away from Stan and Rab's wrath. To purchase it he and Pinball steal a delivery of drugs from Stan's house and sell them, doing the very things Liam once hated – claiming that they will never get anywhere by selling cheap cigarettes. They soon develop 'entrepreneur skills' and raise several thousand pounds, which they pay as a deposit towards the caravan in Liam's mother's name.
Liam's efforts attract the attention of the local drug 'godfather'. Liam, who only wanted a peaceful life with his mother, agrees to work with them after the local godfather tells him to 'stay away from our shops'. Pinball, meanwhile, is thrown into the health club showers due to his disrespectful manner towards the dealer, and vows revenge. Liam and Pinball carry on selling drugs to the local area, with the help of Liam's other friends who deliver pizzas. Liam and Pinball meet again with members of the drug godfather's gang, and Liam joins them in their car. Pinball is kicked out, angering him further; the gang members advise Liam to 'dump' Pinball for good. They take Liam to a Glasgow nightclub and instruct him that he has to kill someone to join the gang. Liam attempts to do so, but is stopped by the gang, who inform him it was a test (which he has passed).
Liam, Chantelle, Calum and Suzanne (Chantelle's friend) drive to the caravan to have a picnic, only to discover that it has been burned down. Liam believes it was Stan who did it, and throws a rock through his window. That evening, Pinball turns up in the drug godfather's (stolen) car, telling Liam that he wants revenge. He proceeds to crash the car into the health club. Liam speaks to the godfather in the morning and, to his chagrin, is ordered to "take care of" the Pinball problem (i.e. to kill his friend). The next morning, Pinball - aware of Liam's intentions - first tries to stab Liam, then proudly tells him that he's the one who burnt down the caravan, not Stan. He then cuts his own face in rage. Liam is seen reassuring his injured friend after phoning for an ambulance, but in the next scene he notifies the godfather that the deed has "been done", leaving a viewer to infer that he has indeed murdered his friend.
The godfather promises to buy Liam an upscale apartment, and on the day before his birthday Liam's mother is released from the prison and taken to this new house on the coast of Gourock where she is welcomed with a party. She appears uneasy, and the next morning is found to have escaped to Stan's house. Liam blames this on Chantelle. Chantelle, now fully aware that Liam is dealing drugs, attempts to warn her little brother about their mother probably not being so thankful for Liam's efforts because she is too devoted to Stan, but this only provokes Liam even further. An enraged Liam goes to Stan's house, trying to convince his mother to go back to their new home, only to receive insults from Stan. In a struggle, Liam stabs Stan.
Liam is then seen walking alone on the stony beach. He is phoned by Chantelle, who reminds him that the day is his 16th birthday. She also tells him that the police have been looking for him, but that after everything that he has done, Chantelle still loves him. He walks towards the sea. | realism | train | wikipedia | Somescenes are very unnerving and hard to watch simply because thehazing and degradation that the fifteen-year-old characters endureis at the hands of people who behave like insecure playgroundbullies, but are members of a powerful organized crime force.Even though I'm pretty close to the age of the main character, I canbarely imagine what the nightmarish experiences he enduresmust be like.The movie is emotionally devastating nearly all the way though.
I felt like I had been punched after I watched this film - it is one of the most powerful movies I have seen in a long time.This is Ken Loach at his very best, with a wonderful script from Paul Laverty.
There is also hope of a sort - the central character Liam has an older sister who cares about him deeply and is always there for him.The acting is stellar, it is shot with finesse and all in all is a masterful piece of film making.
Meanwhile, English distributors looked at the use of subtitles to help adults south of the border cope.The story follows 15-year old Liam (played by 17-yr old football player Martin Compston) as a youth who is determined to have a normal family life once his mother gets out of prison.
Will the film have the sort of impact that Cathy Come Home' had on homeless laws, and mean more attention is given to real support for youths in disadvantaged areas, rather than simply throwing money at the unwinnable war against drug dealing?
However his opportunities for getting money to set them up is limited and he steals drugs from his step-father's stash and tries to deal them off as quick as possible to make the money he needs.At times watching a Ken Loach film is a bit like being having your face pushing down into something unpleasant for two hours; occasionally you get to come up and take a breath of fresh air but you are quickly pushed right back down again soon enough.
Credit to Loach again because he has drawn out convincing performances despite working with a mostly young cast.There is no getting away from the fact that this is a depressing and bleak portrayal of life in poverty but, although not one you'll watch over and over again, it is an impressive and engaging film..
A typically excellent Ken Loach dramatic testament to the plight of the common man, "Sweet Sixteen" brings the forces of adversity and the futility of naive courage into bold relief with this hopeful examination of one boy's struggle to make a better life for himself and his loser mother.
As powerful and moving as the best of Ken Loach's recent films (eg Raining Stones, My Name is Joe), this features an outstanding cast of mainly first-time actors.
This film was a close study film for my AS Film Studies examination, and I have honestly fell in love with it.It sends a striking message towards how the 'not so better off' side of society have to live and perform their day to day routine.Ken Loach is a director who's purpose is to point out these 'bad points' of life and show them in a different light so that everybody can relate and understand that dramatic lifestyle.Martin Compston is amazing as Liam, showing humour, pain, humiliation and above all commitment to his chosen path.I agree completely with Ken Loach's and Paul Laverty's disgust at the film being certified as an 18.
Another excellent tale of gritty Glasgow from Ken Loach, well told from the eyes of a 16 year old boy trying to get another chance for his imprisoned and heroin addicted mother.The boy, Liam, makes one wrong choice after another although you can hardly blame him.
The director portrays in a lacerating way these sad lives, ineluctably taking to violence and crime; obviously, his political point of view is fixed and definite, but the way he presents the plights of unlucky people is memorable, as he shows situations full of anger, heart and frustration; tout ensemble, I would say it's another piece of genuine screen realism, with skillful and fine acting..
The characters in Loach's films are so real they're someone you can relate to, that's what I like about KL's films, obviously they are not for everyone, but give me Raining Stones, or Sweet Sixteen over'Triple xXx' anytime, there is enough action, and personal adventure for my liking.The thing with Loach's work, a first time viewer may read the synopsis and would think "what's that all about?" A poor,young and desperate boy tries to raise the cash to buy his mother, who is in prison a caravan, in order to get her a better quality of life when she gets out, and get her away from her bad influences.
Okay, so you hate your mom's drug dealing boyfriend for being responsible for sending your mom to prison, so as she nears her release date, you start dealing drugs yourself so you can buy a place for you to live with your mom, which is okay because YOU're clean and don't carry a knife.Meanwhile, none of your family asks you where your money comes from.But it turns out that your mom's a c* as well, so you stab her boyfriend and boy, now are you in trouble.I'm sure I'll figure out what I got from this, someday.
The film is very sad but enjoyable and the acting by martin compston (who plays liam) is very believable, i would definitely recommend this film.It can be a little confusing at times but it is not predictable like most other films.
I have to say i have visited Scotland and it does give the scots a bad reputation as there aren't many well spoken or nice characters in the film and also a lot of swearing whereas Scotland is not like that!!!!If you are easily moved you will cry so be prepared as its quite tough to watch from pretty much the beginning A must see movie :).
i don't think anyone could have played Liam as well as Martin Compston did WEll Done Martin especially as he wasn't an actor and was only 15 he is and inspiration to all young Scottish people who want to become an actor and i really respect him for it, keep bringing films out MARTIN!!.
A teenager from the wrong side of the tracks tries to build a new lifeStarring Martin Compston and William Ruane Screenplay by Paul Laverty Directed by Ken LoachThis is a gritty drama with plenty of colourful language from the get go.It's not a fun movie, it's not exactly a laugh a minute.
In fact, in their tracksuit and trainers garb, they still roam the streets today, usually in a zombie-like, drug-hazed trance.The central character of the film, young Liam and his best-mate Pinball obviously don't go to school and out on the streets, work the margins, both small-time partners, roaming the local pubs selling cigarettes on the fly.
Liam's mum is in prison, presumably on drugs-related charges and is due for release soon, but she's in tow with a hardened, petty criminal boy-friend who Liam hates, while also in the family mix is Liam's older sister, a single parent with a young child, who doesn't get on with their mum and bizarrely, a grandfather who's into the same petty crime as the mother's boyfriend.
A chance discovery of the boyfriend's drug-stash gives the soon-to-be-sixteen year-old a golden chance to make big money quickly and buy a dream caravan for the family to make a literally clean start but instead leads him into a shady underworld of crime and violence.Everyone lets Liam down in the film, eventually himself too and at the end, we see him in the time-honoured teenage mixed-up confusion traceable all the way back to Mod Jimmy in "Quadrophenia" and of course the original cause-less rebel of James Dean.
Liam's progress from early-on comically getting a reversing truck to run over a policeman's motorbike in a gag used before by Woody Allen to the "sting" he falls victim to when required to stab a man to death in an underworld initiation test shows how far he comes / falls in his journey into darkness.Filmed in real locations certainly familiar to me and without his sometime trait of attendant sentimentality, I think this is one of the best Ken Loach films I've seen.
It tells the story about a 15-year-old boy named Liam who makes a living selling cheap fags with his best friend named Pinball and who lives in an apartment in a coastal city in Scotland with his sister named Chantelle who is a single mother and a student.
Liam is out of school and two months away from turning sixteen which is only one day after his and Chantelle's mother named Jean, who abandoned them when they were children and who is in prison for having taken the blame for a crime her boyfriend named Stan committed, is going to be released.
While notable for it's distinct and naturalistic milieu depictions and fine cinematography by English cinematographer Barry Ackroyd, this character-driven and narrative-driven story about family relations, friendship, social conditions and how a street-smart juvenile's love for his mother and his admirable hope that she will change her ways and leave her criminal and incriminating boyfriend so they can become a family, leads him into crime, depicts a considerate and conscientious study of character and contains a great score by British composer George Fenton.
This intelligible, sociological and at times humorous coming-of-age drama from the early 21st century which is set in the Central Lowlands in southern Scotland during the early 2000s and where a fatherless young man who cares more about the well-being of others than himself finds an attainable lifeline in the representation of a caravan which he thinks he can obtain by breaking the law, is impelled and reinforced by it's cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, efficient continuity, distinctive Scottish dialect, heartrending scenes between Liam and Chantelle, contradicting characters, ingrained realism and the empathetic and unforgettable acting performances by Scottish actor Martin Compston in his debut feature film role, Scottish actor William Ruane and UK actress Annmarie Fulton.
i really enjoyed this film heartwarming witty down to earth movie i found it very funny great acting by all the actors.Especially the young martin Compton superb acting diffenetly a name to look out for in the future.good title for the film as it portrays the struggle of Liam just before his sixteenth birthday trying to make life better for his mother and him but the harder Liam tries to make things better he seems to get deeper in to trouble.the film reminds me of Saturday night Sunday morning with Avery young Albert finney because of its working background and Albert finney also tries to make life easier but wines up in trouble with his attitude to his family.once again i loved this film plus its a story to get to grips with emothonely..
I have only just seen this film for the first time and as a teenager that has gone through similar things as Liam, I found it brilliant.
The movie learns us also that the people you meet are crucial in your youth: the drugs-dealer will turn out to be protective, but at the same time he is pulling Liam definitely in the wrong direction..
In particular Annmarie Fulton (as Liams sister) and Gary McCormack (menacing and ruthless as the mother's boyfriend)both gave performances that were breathtakingly real.So it is safe to say I am a fan of Sweet Sixteen, a film so real in every way a film can be real.If you haven't seen it, you're missing the film of the year..
The script is tight, and very true to the subject and for the performers.Shown at the Denver Film Festival, "Sweet Sixteen" was subtitled, a necessary evil for the oft-difficult Scottish-accented dialog.
Ken Loach is a gifted director and the plot intensity is excellently exploited, but the script itself is too lopsided to me.As for the actors, Martin Compston as Liam outperforms all the others; he is really great in portraying a soon-to-be 16-years-old "ned" as they say in Scotland.
i think its a brilliant film and should be available for people that are the age of the character 'Liam' to see!
Liam and Pinball are part of the Loach family.They have already lost when the film begins.From the very start ,the loachesque hero (or heroine) has to fight against a hostile world :he/she really got a raw deal.Think of the characters in "Kes" ,"Poor Cow" ,"Family life" "looks and smiles " or "ladybird ladybird" .The society does not care about them and when the movies ends,something worse might possibly be waiting for them.Loach's pessimism muted in the nineties and it seemed that at times there was some light in the darkness."Carla's song" ,"raining stones" and even "ladybird ladybird" -which equals "sweet sixteen " as far as the violence and the crudeness of the language are concerned- displayed some kind of hope."Sweet sixteen" (what a title!) finds Loach again in desperate hours.It might be his most somber work since "family life" (1972).Like "Kes" 's hero,Liam's life is doomed to failure.Billy's hawk is the equivalent of Liam's mobile home.When the bird is killed and the mobile home is wrecked,nothing remains.What needs Liam is a strong shoulder to lean on ;like Billy or Janice ("family life" )he 's left on his own -Liam has Chantelle but the others are too numerous-.Like them,his only way is down.And however how much we side with him!All that he does,he does it for an irresolute mother -who was still a kid when she had us ,Liam tells his sister-.He does not realize that it's too late for his mom,that she is under her hateful lover's thumb,and that the quiet life (with his sister and little Calum) he longs for is only an illusion.The last picture might be a nod to François Truffaut's "les quatre cents coups" ..
It's just another ordinary day if you bump into someone like Liam, they are everywhere." The only thing I did after watching this movie is "kept thinking about the future of this world (not only the UK)" if we allow irresponsible/incapable parents to keep on jeopardizing our society by producing or rearing prospective criminals at home.
If you're bored or feeling like a melancholy movie or just randomly want to hear some heavy Scottish accents, I'd recommend it, but not if you know people who began screwing up their lives at a very young age, because then it'll just leave you sad.
Sweet Sixteen is no exception.The story centers on a fifteen year old, Liam, who lives in Glasgow, Scotland in the weeks leading to his sixteenth birthday.
In Ken Loach's touching Sweet Sixteen, an empty trailer overlooking the Firth of Cyde in the depressed, Scottish town of Greenrock looks like the key to a better life to 15-year old Liam.
First-time actor Martin Compston, a professional soccer player from the Greenrock area picked by Loach from a high school audition, holds the film together with a truly convincing performance as the good-natured teenager who has excellent motives but lacks the ability to realize them in socially acceptable ways.
With a great screenplay by Paul Laverty, Sweet Sixteen is one of Loach's most powerful works, a film that sadly suggests that in a country where almost one in three children are living in poverty, some see crime as the only available option.
I bet you've seen some real poverty " I asked " Yes I did " he replied " and it was nothing like sweet sixteen " I wonder how many people who love Loach films have the misfortune to have experienced poverty ?.
Now a much-lauded critical success that has made an overnight star of it's lead, Martin Compston, "Sweet Sixteen" is an enjoyable study of the human capacity for self-deception and self-destruction, set in an environment of poverty and drugs.Compston plays Liam, a teenaged down-and-out living in Greenock, Scotland in the company of his sister Chantelle (Annmarie Fulton), a single mum, and her young son Calum (Calum Alees).
The plain reality of life for Liam and everyone in his world is presented in a balanced way, with both it's knockabout humour and painful limitations.Director Ken Loach did not depend too much on a script for this production, rather letting the actors (all chosen from the local area) do alot of improvisation and it is in these instances that the film works better, as the dialogue feels more natural.
The film opens with the main character, a fifteen year old boy called Liam, being taken to visit his mother in prison.
This sets the tone for the rest of the film, as Liam tries to make a better life for his mother but increasingly becomes drawn into a dangerous underworld of drug dealing and gang violence.Martin Compston gives an excellent, and thoroughly believable, performance in the role of Liam, and he is ably supported by a superb cast, particularly Annmarie Fulton who plays Liam's sister, Chantelle.
Compston is a non-professional actor, but is a great choice for the leading character who may be doing wrong, but for the right reasons, it is a simple story about a teenager doing whatever it takes to help himself and his ex-junkie mother, the majority of the film is depressing and hard-hitting, with drug dealing and violence, this and the swearing definitely makes the film worthy of an 18 certificate, but it leaves room for lighter moments, it is suggested you watch this with subtitles, the Scottish accents are very strong, a controversial but worthwhile drama.
And if you watch thinking this is going to be a story with a happy ending you're not paying attention.What we have in this touching, straightforwardly plotted little Ken Loach film is the paradox of a winner on a losing downward path. |
tt0076760 | Starship Invasions | The plot concerns the black-clad Legion of the Winged Serpent, a rogue group of human-like telepathic aliens led by Captain Rameses (Christopher Lee). The Legion's home planet Alpha in the Orion constellation is about to be destroyed in the imminent supernova of its star, and Rameses is leading a small force of flying saucers to Earth to examine its suitability for their race. Performing several alien abductions, they discover they are descendants of transplanted humans, and thus the Earth is perfect for them. They cover their tracks using a device that causes the abductees to commit suicide after a short time. They plan to take over after using a larger version of the device so that everyone on Earth will kill themselves.
Opposing any attempt to interfere with less-developed planets is the Intergalactic League of Races, a highly-advanced group of bald, big-headed aliens from Zeta Reticuli. The League operates an observation base on Earth in the form of a pyramid hidden beneath the ocean. Rameses lands at the base, pretending to be a friendly researcher, and the League reminds him that under the Galactic Treaty he is to have no contact with humans. While taking a tour of the base, he is disturbed to see a television broadcast featuring human UFO expert and astronomer Professor Allan Duncan (Robert Vaughn) discussing Rameses' abductions. He laughs it off and indulges in the local entertainment.
Rameses' crew sabotages one of the League's three saucers, which is later shot down when approaching a US Army base. The League sends its remaining ships to investigate, and Rameses and his crew kill everyone left in the base. One of the League saucers manages to return to the base but its crew is killed in a shootout. Rameses' ship fights the remaining League ship, but loses the battle and is destroyed. Rameses then calls in his fleet, hiding behind the Moon, to hunt down the surviving League ship. Rameses also deploys the "extermination device," the orbiting, global-scale version of the suicide device. The US armed forces discover it in orbit, but are powerless to prevent the ensuing suicide epidemic.
The surviving League ship has suffered minor computer damage, and contacts Duncan for assistance. He enlists the help of his friend Malcolm (Henry Ramer), a computer expert, who repairs the ship using parts picked up in downtown Toronto. They are discovered shortly after taking off and are intercepted by one of Rameses' ships, but they shoot it down and it crashes into First Canadian Place. Duncan and Malcolm's "abduction" makes the front page of the Toronto Star. After repairs and refueling, they leave Earth in an attempt to enlist the help of other League ships. Malcolm's improvised repairs burn out shortly past the Moon, so Duncan's knowledge of the masses of the planets is put to use by Malcolm's pocket calculator to plot their course to the outer solar system.
The ship successfully reaches a League squadron, and they set out to attack the Legion. Rameses uses the computer in the League base to calculate superior strategies and begins to destroy the League ships. One of the robots in the base is only damaged, not destroyed, and re-takes command. He causes the extermination unit to destroy itself, and then directs Rameses' ships to collide with each other. His fleet destroyed, the super-weapon eliminated, the League pleads with Rameses to surrender. When Rameses discovers his sun has gone supernova during the battle, he crashes his ship into the Moon.
During the action the extermination unit had passed over Toronto, causing Duncan's wife (Helen Shaver) to slash her wrists. The League races to Duncan's home and easily revives her. | good versus evil, cult, violence | train | wikipedia | I have to agree with the people who say this movie's bad, but disagree with the ones who say it isn't so bad it's good.
In this movie a guy uses a 70s style pocket calculator to compute flightpaths for a flying saucer.
For god's sake DON'T MAKE THEM ANGRY!!" And the robots who look like trash cans...And the sadistic kid who squashes the tomato...Believe it or not I remember seeing this thing 29 years ago when it came out.
it's got goofy flying saucers, lots and lots of cheesecake, christopher lee losing every scrap of his dignity, tons of mind-controlled people acting really zombified and stupid, space battles that look like they were lifted straight out of "mars attacks!", possibly the most ridiculous costumes of all time, and the real coup de grace -- one actually extraordinarily talented actress (Helen Shaver, the wife of the UFO researcher guy) caught in the middle of it all, trying valiantly to salvage this whole mess.
For years I had hoped to run across this film again as I find that certain images of the flying saucers have stuck in my imagination throughout my adult life.
Actual recollections of storyline are nil as it seemed to be crude in its storytelling but my impression is that for whatever reason I believe this to be an important film in terms of its longterm effect on the impressionable minds (like mine at the time) who watched it on its release.
Robert Vaughn who so memorably appeared in other low budget films (notably Teenage Caveman, a Corman classic), adds to the overall impression that here was something to be enjoyed throughout ones life.
Mixing UFO nonsense with ludicrous 'Star Wars' mythology and some demented ideas, I will never forget sitting in a cinema full of teens and pre-teens, and watching in horror as the main actress has her mind controlled, and she proceeds to slash her wrists!
In another version i thought I read CHRISTOPHER LEE says his lines.
STARSHIP INVASIONS came out as a "b" movie yet garnered a cult following on tv.
It also was one of those post star wars films that capitalized off ufo myths tied in with ancient astronaughts like HANGAR 18.
HI,Practically every thing in the movie was taken from UFO encounters of some sort reported through the previous years.Whether it was the type of uniform, the insignia, the concept of guardians, the type and location (somewhat) of the base, etc.
you get the idea, was made to resemble UFO contact reported information.For me the most catching part of the movie was when one of the robots said "I think I can." when responding to a request for assistance from a guardian vessel under attack.It came out shortly after one of the star wars movies and was labeled in the press as a "star wars" ripoff wannabe..
Some trivia: Parts of Starship Invasions was filmed on the campus of the University of Toronto, in particular some of the UFO scenes were shot on the grounds of the then-new Robarts Library, facing the also very new Innis College (where Marshall McLuhan was teaching) In this film, Robert Vaughn basically plays the part of Dr. Ernie Seaquist, dean of Astrophysics at the U of T, and who, at that time, had pinned to the cork board outside his office a double page spread from the National Enquirer with an article quoting Prof.
One interesting thing to note, reading the plot summary offered at IMDb, I've seen some of the same elements in UFO abduction lore & accounts.
I'd like to see some talented writer/director do for modern abduction accounts what Spielberg did in Close Encounters with Project Bluebook reports.
A rich vein for creative exploration and sadly this little low budget film is about as close as it gets at the moment..
"Starship Invasions" is an incredibly slow and underacted sci-fi film from Canada.
While it stars Robert Vaughn and Christopher Lee, the rest of the cast are mostly unknowns.
This is because although the film is supposed to be a life or death tale about the invasion of the Earth, it's all so low energy and the acting is just too subdued....to the point where you start to wonder if it's a sci-fi zombie film!So is there anything I really liked about this film?
Well, there isn't much but I did like the makeup job on the huge-domed aliens-- they looked quite good considering the low budget.
Christopher Lee as a RamaTut Alien, bad F/X saucers, stuff right outta those goofy 'The Outer Space Connection/Chariots of the Gods' '70s UFO crap flix, etc.
The film, STARSHIP INVASIONS drew inspirations off of the wave of space warfare films coming out at that time.
The film tells the tale of a ufo menace to earth that is combated by friendly aliens who ask humans for help.
The special effects at times were creative and others dreadful yet the film is worth viewing.
I if you are into UFO lore you will like this film.
When a cast member said that line in the film, my buddy stood up and shouted "Why did WE come?" which had the whole theater doubled over with laughter.
The only redeeming factors for this film were the sexy female aliens in skimpy costumes and the unintentional laughs.
If you intend to watch this movie, gather some like-minded friends and prepare them for making snippy comments about it.
He gets beamed aboard and the next thing he knows he's sitting in what looks like Danish dentist's waiting room.
Cut to a shot of the farmer breaking into a frightening, toothless grinI remember thinking " If this is an invasion sign me up!"Well, the rest of the movie wasn't quite so interesting.I have no problem with the low budget.
Without giving away spoilers the film had some thought behind it.But everything about this movie is S-O L-O-W K-E-Y.
The music is laid back and elevator style and nobody ever raises their voice, which is pretty uncommon for a movie about invading something.Instead of feeling excited, and revved up, like I'd expect to feel while watching a movie called Starship Invasions, I felt kind of relaxed, even soothed.
A Sci-Fi Flick So Bad, I Didn't Want To See "Star Wars".
At the time, my parents and I had very little in common in terms of taste in movies -- I was a "Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang" and "Love Bug" kind of guy; they were into Woody Allen and French Cinema.But when it came to this movie, for once, we agreed: It sucked.It left such a sour taste that a couple of months later, they had to drag my brother and me literally kicking and screaming to the movie theater to see something called "Star Wars."I gave it an extra star because Christopher Lee..
And I remember when I finally saw it on a Sunday afternoon broadcast how it looked like it was shot in a suburb of the state capitol, and wondering why it was so poorly shot, and why the music and everything else looked so poor.This film looks like it was thrown together at the last minute, and I think it's a safe bet that it was designed to compete with Star Wars, which, judging by the poor quality of this production, they expected to be another "Plan 9 from Outer Space".
Well, "Star Wars" was much more than anything 1950s had to offer, and this movie all but vanished into the ether.But it's like a man wonders who approves these films, and how they get made.
Zooms, hand held shots (before shaky cam became a thing), reliance on either natural lighting with 1970s film stock, and primitive tilts with medium shots, just bespeak of a movie that was thrown together at the last minute.What's worse is that there are fans who like this garbage.
With the likes of 2001, Star Trek, Star Wars, the Planet of the Apes movies, Rod Serling's Twilight Zone TV series and everything else, ...
it's like even the schlocky 1950's science fiction movies were better than this thing, and it makes one wonder how people who like good scifi come to like this movie and other junk like it.
And indeed it was revisited in the likes of "The Last Starfighter" and one or two other films that had a cast, crew and budget that actually cared about the material.
But B-movies like this thing just show how much some studio exec has control over what used to get shot and what doesn't.I have to admit, I've often wondered whatever happened with this film, and now I have my answer.
Apart from his stint among the ensemble of AIRPORT '77, 1977 was truly Annus Horribilis for Christopher Lee: his three genre efforts were easily among the worst exploitation outings of their vintage that I have come across!
For the film under review, I sure hope that he did not accept it without even bothering to read the script – in the vain hope of matching the enormous success enjoyed by his frequent colleague Peter Cushing with the same year's STAR WARS (for the record, he would himself eventually join that most auspicious franchise – albeit with a quarter century's delay)!
In fact, here we have two sets of aliens, one which is evil and intent on destroying our planet (shades of Lee's own END OF THE WORLD, one of his afore-mentioned contemporaneous duds) and the other benign and seeking to thwart their plan (though, yet again, they still need to kidnap humans in order to have THEIR computer system fixed – WTF?!).
Indeed, its unintentionally hilarious moments are perhaps too many to catalogue or remember even at a mere day's juncture, but I will try regardless: a dim-witted, middle-aged farmer is abducted and conditioned to engage in sexual intercourse with a voluptuous alien (which he cannot quite believe is happening to him!); the costume of the invaders looks like a full-body black condom (which Christopher Lee looks understandably miserable inhabiting – what is more, all the actors playing extraterrestrials have had to loop their lines in post-production, since the writer-producer-director apparently thought it cool to allow them to only voice their thoughts!); equally incomprehensible is the redundant presence of what can only be described as space escorts forever waiting in the wings – maybe they should have called the film STAR WHORES?!; a couple of inept intergalactic goons realize too late that their protective force-field was not switched on, so that they are blown to bits by the typically impulsive and paranoid U.S. military; hero Robert Vaughn (displaying a fixed baffled countenance throughout) is supposed to be an expert on UFOs, yet when one flies over his car he does not immediately notice it and has to be alerted to its presence by his kid daughter and, on realizing that he missed the all-important sighting, he just shrugs and keeps on driving; to recruit his computer whiz pal to the aliens' cause, he visits him one evening at home, yet this guy is still wearing his coat and tie as if they were his casual attire; the world's end comes by way of a suicide epidemic (not in itself a bad idea, but would it not just take too long to achieve?) triggered by a laser beam fired from way out in space; Vaughn's wife, depressed over his absence from home (she had already voiced her concern about how he was being unfaithful to her with UFOs!), goes from peeling onions for dinner to slashing her wrists in a split second; though supposedly emanating from outside our atmosphere, the spaceships are inexplicably seen emerging from the sea several times; Lee does very little here except press random buttons off a keyboard and aimlessly fiddle with knobs to feign his authority, check his wristwatch every now and again to God knows what ostensibly vital purpose, and operate the occasional flimsy ray gun (also worn on his wrist), etc.
I definitely shared his enthusiasm, because I truly worship cinematic B-trash like this, and my only regret was that I wasn't yet drunk enough when I watched "Starship Invasions".
Although a low-keyed crossover between the hugely successful "Star Wars" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", this piece of junk has quite a lot to offer.
For example, it stars Christopher Lee in the most ridiculous and embarrassing outfit of his long and respectable career, hypnotizing aliens speaking without moving their lips, alien base camps underneath sea level, loads of sexy space wenches, authentic R2D2 robots (oh no, they're not men in suits AT ALL) and goofy intelligent beings with gigantic bald heads and miniature ears.
There are alien invaders trying to overtake planet earth, but at the same time these crazy beings are at war with other extraterrestrial species.
Presumably the big bald aliens are here to protect us humans from the nefarious Christopher Lee and his posse.
Okay, "Starship Invasions" comes across as cheesy and campy, but admittedly it's also dark and sinister at times, especially when it turns out that the evil aliens are able to make earthlings commit ritual suicide through their telekinetic powers.
Once you're done laughing with Vaughn's nihilistic facial expressions and Lee's stoic voiceovers the film does become very boring, though.
The special effects are astonishingly decent for a low- budget Canadian exploitation flick like this.
With a slightly more coherent script and competent direction, and maybe also with less urge to imitate other and more successful Sci-Fi titles, I'm convinced that "Starship Invasions" could have been a better movie.
Mainly because two big named actors Robert Vaughn and Christopher Lee agreed to act in a film with FX, set direction, and costumes that look like they were slapped together at a church picnic.Really!
The plot: Vaughn is a renowned scientist and family man who's having his reputation damaged by speaking out publicly about UFOs. Apparently, Big Brother knows about the aliens and Earth and wants to keep the matter quiet.Like all media the term UFO doesn't mean "Unidentified Flying Object" such a insects, reflections of light, or lens' glare.
However, evil alien Christopher Lee heads a coup of their bases.
Lee's evil alien race used up all their planet's resourced and now wants to enslave/destroy humanity.The surviving peaceful aliens reach out to Vaughn by literally landing on his front yard.
What the heck was used to blackmail Vaughn and Lee into being in this movie.I'd have to think once they saw the set which looks like a children's playhouse they would be kicking a screaming to get out of there!
Like so many of Vaughn's films, possibly intriguing for pre-teens.
I saw this movie at the theater when it was released -- in 1977 -- when I was in fifth grade.
I then saw the movie about 20 years later and wondered if I had taken any drugs that Saturday afternoon so long ago.
Whether you believe in Ancient Astronauts or not, Starship Invasions will mostly likely fulfill all your expectations of what it would be like to have Canadian Aliens building subaquatic bases and terrorizing dumb farmers.
This dreadful attempt to catch the extraordinary wave of sf enthusiasm splashed up by Star Wars (a phenomenon that is hard to imagine today, if only because everyone now seems to love science fiction movies) lacks even the so-bad-it's-good charm of Plan 9 or Robot Monster.
painfully amateurish, and the dialog really, actually, sounds like the actors were asked to make it up as they went along (and did a painfully amateurish job of it).This is the kind of film that begs for lampooning in a review, but I'm sort of hoping not enough people have, or will have, seen it to make it worth the effort.
There is nothing you could possibly do to further waste your time than devote another millisecond to anything connected with this movie, including reading more of this review.
Other flying saucers were obviously just thrown like a frisbee and filmed that way as 'cool flying sfx.'All I can figure is that they were TRYING to be hokey.
Aliens, who have established a base on Earth, welcome a race of saucer-flying folks lead by Christopher Lee. Lee starts an invasion of Earth by taking over the alien base and getting humans to commit suicide, one by one.
The good aliens must call on the talents of human Robert Vaughn (Man From UNCLE, Helsinki Formula) to help them defeat Lee and his minions in a deep-space battle royale.
Oh yeah, all the aliens speak by telepathy (lots of voice-over work in this film).
This movie is rife with cheesy elements, from the alien garb (dragon logos that look like they came off the side of a Chevy van) to the crucial plot points (Why do the aliens need Vaughn's knowledge of the planets' weight?
Although bad, it's a lot of fun to watch.
Crap acting, plot, costumes, set designs, dialogue, character motivation, music, you name it, it sucks.Christopher Lee is the worst.
You get: Scantily clad alien ladies with their buttcheeks hanging out (whoo-hoo!), Christopher Lee in a ridiculous big hat and leotards (buh-ha ha ha!- poor guy), "mod" "futuristic" space decor, funky electro-swill jazz music soundtrack (that you may be inclined to dance to while watching this- yes, I danced!), the lowest of low-budget laser beam special effects, Robert Vaughn trying to be overly serious wearing a turtleneck, big bald obviously fake-looking alien heads, a space ray that causes earthlings to commit suicide, inflatable pillow-like flying saucers, dialogue spoken with the mouths shut, and oh-so-much more!
The aliens come to take our planet, need our "seed" to do it, and use a transmitting device that turns humans into wanton killing machines.
The hero tries to fly a saucer, and disable the device before we wipe ourselves out, thereby doing the aliens job for them.The movie was way over the top for a kid's mind. |
tt0085475 | Eddie and the Cruisers | A television reporter named Maggie Foley (Ellen Barkin) investigates the mysterious disappearance of legendary rock star Eddie Wilson (Michael Paré). Flashbacks dramatize Eddie's life and the rise and fall of his rock and roll band, Eddie and the Cruisers.
The band gets its start at a Somers Point, New Jersey club called Tony Mart's. Not adept at writing lyrics, Eddie hires Frank Ridgeway (Tom Berenger) aka "Wordman" to be the band's keyboard player and lyricist, over the protests of band manager Doc Robbins (Joe Pantoliano) and bassist Sal Amato (Matthew Laurance). Rounding out the Cruisers are saxophonist Wendell Newton (Michael "Tunes" Antunes), background singer and Eddie's girlfriend Joann Carlino (Helen Schneider), and drummer Kenny Hopkins (David Wilson).
The band's first album, Tender Years, became a major hit album. But recording their next album, A Season in Hell, turns out to be a nightmare. Inspired by the bleak, fatalistic poetry of Arthur Rimbaud, Eddie pushes his bandmates beyond their limits, musically and personally. Eddie wants to be great, but bassist Sal replies, "We ain't great. We're just some guys from Jersey." Eddie makes this clear that if the band cannot be great, there is no reason to ever play music again. A Season in Hell is ultimately rejected by Satin Records on the grounds that it is "dark and strange". In the early morning hours, Eddie's car crashes through the railing and over the Stainton Memorial Causeway. Eddie vanishes without a trace, his body never found.
Almost 20 years later, Satin re-releases the band's first album, which charts even higher than it did originally. A television documentary is soon in the works, exploring the mystery of the band's second album, which had disappeared from the vaults of Satin Records the day after Eddie's disappearance. All of the original Cruisers are set to participate in it except Eddie and Wendell Newton, who had died of an overdose in August 1963 at age 37. The others are now living ordinary lives: Sal Amato fronts a Cruisers tribute band. Ridgeway is a high school English teacher in Vineland. Doc works as a radio disc jockey in Asbury Park. Joann is a stage choreographer in Wildwood, and Hopkins works in an Atlantic City casino.
During the documentary interviews, the band expresses a desire to relive the past, even though many of their memories are humiliating. For example, during a concert at Benton College, where Frank was once a student, Eddie ridicules Frank repeatedly by referring to him as "Toby Tyler". The other Cruisers members share similar stories.
Joann is able to complete the one piece of the puzzle that Frank could not: revealing what happened to the band's second album. After storming from the studio, Eddie brought her to the Palace of Depression, a makeshift castle made of garbage and junk that he visited often as a child. She reveals it was in fact she who took the master tapes for the album from Satin Records, hiding them in the Palace of Depression, where she felt they belonged.
Frank and Joann go back to the Palace of Depression to retrieve the master tapes. A mystery man driving a blue '57 Chevy Bel Air convertible identical to Eddie's arrives at the house and calls to Joann. But before she can reach the car, Frank unmasks the impostor, revealing him to be Doc, who was after the master tapes all these years. Moved by his story, Frank and Joann give him the master tapes. Doc drives off into the night vowing that the Cruisers will finally conquer the world this time.
In a surprise reveal near the ending, a bearded, much older looking Eddie is shown alive, watching the ending credits roll of a documentary tribute to him and the band. He smiles serenely, proud to know that his work is finally being heard, and then disappears into the night. | cult | train | wikipedia | The underlying premise of the film, that there was, indeed, a definitive crossover point between the innocent early rock and roll music of the 1950's and the deeper coming of age sounds of the mid to late sixties is quite real.
However, this IS good.It features solid music by John Cafferty, whose "The Dark Side," is played quite a bit during the movie but is a great song and always enjoyable to hear.
I love the music and have been to see John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band many times since the release of this movie.
Mystery surrounds the death of a rising rock star in director Martin Davidson's `Eddie and the Cruisers,' starring Tom Berenger and Michael Pare.
With one successful album under their belts, lead singer and guitarist Eddie Wilson (Pare) takes his Cruisers into the recording studio to make an album he hopes will stand the world on its collective ear.
Now, eighteen years later, a reporter, Maggie Foley (Ellen Barkin) is doing a story on the Cruisers, and attempting to uncover the mystery behind the disappearance of the master tapes from the recording sessions, which inexplicably vanished the day after Eddie's apparent death.
Pare is perfectly cast as Eddie, the Bruce Springsteen-like rocker; he lip-synchs convincingly to John Cafferty's vocals and deftly captures the persona of an early sixties rock n' roll idol on the rise.
Tom Berenger (who is actually the star of the movie) does an excellent job as lyricist Frank Ridgeway, the keyboard player known as `Word Man' by the band.
`Eddie and the Cruisers' is entertaining, if not entirely memorable, but the music and performances are good, and all in all this movie will do for a pleasant evening's viewing, with maybe a little popcorn thrown in for effect.
Every time I watch this movie(and I do - over and over), the scene where Frank introduces his first song to the band - nearly whispering it in a high, cracking falsetto: "...from out of the shadows she walks like a dre-eam...", and while the other band-members giggle and squirm as though they're in 8th grade and just saw Mary Ellen's tidy-whities when the wind blew her skirt up - Eddie's silencing them and kindly guiding Frankie The Wordman's stumbling efforts toward something that can really get your blood moving("This is Rock 'n Roll!" he exclaims joyfully)always makes me marvel at the unexpectedly-good acting coming out of pretty boy Michael Pare'.
The proof is here; right here, in his very authentic portrayal of an artist trapped in the too-confining skin of a 60's rock star(Eddie: "If we can't be great, then there's no point in ever making music again!").
Classic lines like, "Do it my way with the cesarean", "We ain't great--we're just a bunch of guys from Jersey", and the all time rocker, "WORDS AND MUSIC" (with the appropriate finger gesture), can be heard in every recording studio and rehearsal room in the English speaking world.So if you're a musician--or even if you just want to hang out with musicians--you must watch this film, otherwise you'll look like a total n00b.Even to non-musical audiences, this movie is a work of art.
Acting is absolutely flawless, camera-work is both tense and dreamy, and the clincher is the fantastic music, a retro soundtrack by John Cafferty with songs you'd swear you'd heard from the 50s but were actually written in 1980: "On the Dark Side", "Tender Years" & "Wild Summer Nights" to name some of the best.
I'll leave you to discover the philosophical implications of their conflict and its outcome.Notable supporting performances are made by young actors Joe Pantoliana ("Risky Business", "The Fugitive", "The Matrix", perhaps best known for "The Sopranos"), Matthew Laurance (tons of 80s-90s TV), Ellen Barkin ("The Big Easy"), and Eddie's girl played by Helen Schneider who surprisingly never did any other feature films.Some people criticize this film as being "B grade" or "cheezy".
Powered by a sensational Rock n Roll soundtrack, Eddie and the Cruisers takes you on a journey through a glimpse of the other band members lives more than twenty years after.
I thought Michael Pare would go on to be a big time actor, but looking at his profile, i never heard of any of his movies, except that horrible sequel he should of never of been involved with.
and I don't care how seductively Ellen Barkin wraps her lips around a cancer stick or her legs around a chair, I'm just not buying her theories and I'm just not buying The Cruisers as a group that would eclipse the Beatles or anybody else in music in 1963-1964, had Eddie lived, and she is out to determine if Eddie is still alive, since his body was never found after his car went off of a bridge in 1964.Nor am I buying that although the cruisers have seemed to move on, as in they are making a living doing something else, that ALL of them seem to be stuck back in 1964, right down to "Eddie's girl", Joann Carlino, who after 19 years still has the outfits she wore back in the day, even more amazingly she fits in them.
Actually, Eddie was not very nice to any of the other Cruisers, so I could never really get why they were so stuck in the past.Joann is so stuck in the past that when it appears that Eddie's car drives up into her driveway, she just dresses the way she would have dressed twenty years before and goes downstairs to find - well, watch and find out.Yes, "The Dark Side" is good music, but it is obviously 80's music - even more obviously over 30 years later - and Michael Pare as Eddie is obviously lip syncing the vocals..
Sensational rock music film ,today considered a cult movie.
The film deals a rockers band in the 1960s,the successful group is constituted by the leader Eddie(Michael Pare) and the rest band (Tom Berenguer,Joe Pantoliano,Matthew Laurance among others),but the lead singer dies in a car accident without appear mysteriously the body.Nowadays a reporter named Maggie(Ellen Barkin) is interviewing the surviving but another member has deceased by a stroke heart.Memories group are being relived by Frank (Tom Berenguer).The journalist and members of band are looking for the last unpublished tapes what turn out to be the band's final recording.The tapes have the title : ¨time in the inferno¨ like as a Rimbaud poem(written in 1873) .Maggie thinks what Eddie following the Rimbaud life(he had a tempestuous existence and was Paul Verlaine lover and disappearing early, his biography was brought to the life in a film with Leonardo DiCaprio)committed a suicide simulated and she doesn't believes to be dead.It's an interesting film with excellent music and nowadays is deemed a cult movie.Casting is frankly enjoyable,the film results to be the best Michael Pare performance.The magnificent music is by John Chafferty and Beaver Brown Band.The motion picture is well directed by Martin Davidson,he's a director at his beginning realized good movies with known actors : Lord's of Flatbush,Hero at large and of course Eddie of the Cruisers; however today he makes solely for television episodes.
Lead singer Eddie (Michael Pare) is angry to learn that not only the band hates it, but so does the record company.
Reporter Maggie (Ellen Barkin) wants to put together a retrospective, and with the help of former band member Frank (Tom Berenger), they set out to uncover the mystery of what really happened to Eddie.
"Eddie and the Cruisers" by P.F. Kluge is probably the best novel ever written about rock'n'roll, and even though it lost a lot in translation to the big screen, the magic is still there.
I am familiar with the sequel, but would love to see another rock movie as good as Eddie and the Cruisers..
Released in 1983 and directed by Jon Amiel, "Eddie and the Cruisers" is a rock drama about a TV reporter (Ellen Barkin) who picks up the story of a legendary early 60's rock band that prematurely ended when their charismatic leader, Eddie Wilson (Michael Paré), died when his Chevy went off a bridge, although his body was never recovered.
The band members are Frank (Tom Berenger), Joann (Helen Schneider), Sal (Matthew Laurance), Kenny (David Wilson) and Wendell (Michael "Tunes" Antunes), while their bullcrappin' manager is Doc (Joe Pantoliano).This was the inspiration for 2009's "The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll" but both movies have their distinctions, as well as pros and cons.
In my opinion the music's better in the latter, but then I prefer the heavier side of rock/metal over the Bruce-Springsteen-in-the-early 60s style of "Eddie" (which is good for what it is, don't get me wrong).
Then there's the powerful climatic scene in "Perfect Age" at Spyder's ritzy mansion with Jane's Addiction's "Three Days" playing in the background, which just so happens to rank with the all-time best cinematic scenes utilizing rock songs, like the close of 1998's "Buffalo '66" with Yes' incredible "Heart of the Sunrise." The songs by the fictitious Eddie and the Cruisers were composed/performed by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band.
A television newswoman (Ellen Barkin) picks up the story of a 1960s rock band whose long-lost leader Eddie Wilson (Michael Pare) may still be alive, while searching for the missing tapes of the band's never-released album.The 1980s, among many other great things in the movie world, were apparently the decade of music films.
This might be the time to visit (or revisit) the film, especially now that we have had thirty years to reflect on the careers of Michael Pare, Tom Berenger and Joe Pantoliano.Hats off to Shout Factory for releasing this as a double feature on Blu-ray.
Here's the premise of the film: years after Eddie, the tempestuous and dumb (can he spell Rimbaud?) lead singer of the Cruisers, has disappeared (he died in a car accident, but his body was never recovered), a reporter decides to write a story about the band.
An intriguing and likable yarn about a former member of a sixties rock band now high school teacher, Frank Ridgeway (Tom Berenger) who is interviewed by an eager magazine reporter, Maggie Foley (Ellen Barkin) about what might have happened to the band's fiery lead singer, Eddie Wilson (Michael Pare).What makes "Eddie and the Crusiers" work so well is the musical score by John Cafferty, which mostly consists of soft rock songs.
One must wonder how much detail is too much for a movie like this?Overall, "Eddie and the Crusiers" is a respectable blend of music and mystery..
Also was a very good book, but this movie and soundtrack still hold an important place in my collection, and BTW, my mothers as well.Everyone says the music was bad yet it brought old styled rock back to the top 10!
The plot revolves around the mysterious 1964 death of rock singer Eddie Wilson, played by Pare.
The film's dialogue, acting, and cinematography are acceptable, if unremarkable.As an oldie but goody, "Eddie And The Cruisers" is not real good, but the story is mildly interesting, despite a mediocre script.
But the film's execution, particularly as it relates to nostalgia, is poor, mostly as a result of bad casting, and a lack of understanding of early 60's rock and roll music..
We're also robbed of the fun of seeing songs created through rehearsals; it's pretty clear the director has never been to a band rehearsal, as the songs sound as polished and final the first time they play them as in the final recordings.I'd love to see this movie remade by some competent people.
In the right hands, it could be the best rock-and-roll movie ever.One last aside: everyone mentions Eddie's resemblance to Jim Morrison, which is clearly there, but it seems obvious that the Season in Hell stuff is also based on Brian Wilson's difficulties which the never-released Beach Boys' "Smile" album.
Though I've never cared for actors lip sync-ing to other vocalists, especially in light of having the Buddy Holly Story break new ground in the same year ( 1983 AAW best music adaptation ), Michael Pare was quite good.As this was a hybrid of the Jim Morrison ' what if ' myth & the Springsteen story, it did offer some insight into the era & at that time a look into the genesis of a band & the internecine struggles.Picking movies like this apart misses the point.
The actors,Michael Pare,Tom Beringer and the entire cast did a great job especially Pare's performance as "Eddie".I have never seen such a great lipsink job you totally believe thats he's singing.Which brings up the best part of this movie,THE MUSIC!!,"On the Darkside,Tender years.wild summer nights etc" you will fall in love and want the sound track.I just enjoy this movie and the music so much I don't want anyone to miss it..
This of course is not to detract from the well structured script which plays on the "Jim Morrison lives" myth (with the character of Eddie Wilson as the Morrison substitute).All in all, this film will keep you on the edge of your seat, singing away, until the movie's surprise ending.
Eddie and the Cruisers is the story of a one hit wonder band that is experiencing a revival in their music 18 years later.
So, if you are looking for some great music and a feel-good movie, this is the one to watch.
It captures a time that I can relate to, but it's for people of any age whole just like movies about musicians.I agree with Michael Pare's own analysis when he said this movie made him a movie actor.He has been in tons of B- movies and some television an after "The Cruisers" and apparently he always has work, so his style of acting obviously is in demand !!!!!
Eddie wants to be great and he sees that with him and Frank writing the songs the Cruiser's making the music that they'll go places and be Big. When frank joins things start breaking big for them one of their songs ON THE DARK SIDE is a hit.
If your into rock and roll that made sense and had feeling, Which is what Eddie Wilson tried to show then you will enjoy this movie as much as I did and you will want to watch the second.
In 1983, journalist Ellen Barkin starts digging into the story of a supposed accident which killed Eddie Wilson, lead singer for Eddie and the Cruisers, a hot 60's band who made one hit album.
When Eddie and the Cruisers are playing their stuff the movie suddenly comes alive, and Michael Paré is an excellent performer on stage and lip syncs to perfection.
I just watched "Eddie and the Cruisers" on DVD, and there's a scene when the reporter is looking up something on Eddie on the computer (it's supposed to be 1983 in the film's story).
Eddie and the CruisersWhen the singer of a band dies it is customary to wait 2-weeks before going on a European tour with their hologram.Thankfully, this drama takes places decades before technology ruined music.In 1983 a music journalist, Maggie (Ellen Barkin), pitches a story to her television bosses about the mysterious death of 1960s rocker Eddie Wilson (Michael Paré) and his unreleased album that disappeared.
For those of you who like your rock and roll pre-British invasion than Eddie And The Cruisers is your kind of film.
hook as they might have back in the 60s if Pare wasn't around.And the music, a rock and roll fan's paradise.Enjoy Betty Lou getting a new pair of shoes as you watch Eddie And The
I don't think I've ever seen a movie that has so accurately captured the "feeling" of it's setting as did Eddie and The Cruisers.That "was" the Jersey shore in the 1970s.
A great cast of characters with a story that intertwines a series of friends and band members who still live with the memory of Eddie.
The movie looks and feels like a seventies Avco Embassy picture, and if you can get past the dreadful John Cafferty "classic rock" songs there are a number of good--or at least well-intended--performances, notably an extremely touching Tom Berenger as the lyric-writer turned high-school English teacher, Barkin as the avid journalist, and a sultry young Michael Pare as the hero, a smoldering amalgam of Jim Morrison and Arthur Fonzarelli..
I remember working in a music store late in 1983 (when this movie came out), and one day we got in the soundtrack for "Eddie and The Cruisers".
TV reporter Maggie Foley (Ellen Barkin) want to find an infamous '60s rock band whose leader Eddie Wilson (Michael Paré) was presumed dead.
Eddie was a bit before his time.Berenger says he isn't really musically inclined & had to learn piano for this film.
Eddie and The Cruisers is the greatest Rock and Roll Fib of all time.
Plot in a nutshell: Eddie Wilson (Michael Pare) was the lead singer of "Eddie & The Cruisers", an on the rise rock band in the early 1960s that played late 1970s/1980s style music.
In the midst of this, more about the band's tragic downfall comes to light.Major Spoiler: at the end we see the older, long lost Eddie Wilson alone in the streets watching as his lost music is played on a big store TV; he smiles serenely, proud to know that his work, misunderstood and rejected all those years ago, is finally being heard, and disappears into the night.All in all, a well made, well acted film that speaks for all those rock singers who almost had it but for whatever reason couldn't hold on.
Michael Pare (in the role that should have made him a star) is well cast as Eddie Wilson, the charismatic but self-destructive rock singer, though the true star is Tom Berenger as the lyricist who must uncover the truth of it all.Excellent showcase for the music of John Cafferty (Eddie's singing voice) and the Beaver Brown Band. |
tt0029501 | Round-Up Time in Texas | After rounding up a large herd of horses in Texas, Gene Autry (Gene Autry) receives a telegram from his brother Tex (Ken Cooper), who is mining diamonds in South Africa. The message states that Tex and his partner, Edward Barclay, have discovered a big strike in the Valley of Suspicion and urges Gene to bring as many horses as possible to Dunbar, South Africa, where he can contact John Cardigan (LeRoy Mason), the saloon owner who grubstaked Tex and Barclay. Gene and his sidekick Frog (Smiley Burnette) quickly arrange for passage overseas and accompany the horses to South Africa.
Meanwhile, Tex and his partner, while on their way back to Dunbar from their mine, are ambushed by Cardigan's men. Barclay is killed and Tex wounded but able to escape. Cardigan wants sole control of the mine. Sometime later, Gene and Frog arrive at Dunbar and hire Barkey McCuskey, a small-time English con artist, as their auctioneer for when they sell their horses. Worried that Tex is not in Dunbar, Gene stoutly defends his brother when Cardigan tells him he is being sought for the murder of Barclay. Gene grows suspicious of Cardigan when he sees that the saloon owner tampered with another telegram from Tex. Cardigan in turn grows jealous as Gene who becomes friendly with saloon singer Gwen (Maxine Doyle), who is Barclay's daughter.
The next day Gene sees Cardigan's servant Namba (Corny Anderson) at the auction wearing the belt buckle that Gene gave to Tex, and Gene becomes more suspicious of Cardigan, whose henchman, Craig Johnson (Dick Wessel), plans to kill the Texans that night. Johnson arranges to have Gene and Frog arrested after he gives uncut diamonds to Frog in return for a horse. The South African Constabulary explain that it is illegal to have uncut diamonds without a license. The next day, while the police take Gene and Frog to Kimberly for trial, the Texans manage to escape. Later they find Cardigan as he is making his way through the jungle with Johnson, Gwen, and Barkey in search of the diamond mine.
The group is captured by natives and brought before Chief Bosuto (Buddy Williams). Just as they are about to be sacrificed, Frog wins the chief over by teaching his children to sing. The chief agrees to let the others go if Frog stays behind to teach his children more music. Frog and Cardigan stay with the natives while Gene, Barkey, and Gwen are led away by Namba. After the police arrive and free Cardigan, and head to Cardigan's jungle hideout, where Tex is being held a slave. Gene arrives and frees his brother and the other workers. Cardigan and Johnson attempt to escape, taken Gwen as a hostage, but Frog catches up with Johnson and Gene fights with Cardigan, who falls from a cliff to his death. The police arrive and capture the rest of Cardigan's gang. Later on the ship returning to Texas, while Frog sings along with Bosuto's children, Gene and Gwen kiss. | comedy | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0049005 | Beyond Mombasa | Matt Campbell (Cornel Wilde) arrives in Kenya, where his brother George is reported missing. A man named Ralph Hoyt (Leo Genn) tells him that George has been killed by members of the "Leopard Men" cult.
Matt is introduced to Hoyt's niece, Ann Wilson (Donna Reed), an anthropologist, who is puzzled by Matt's reluctance to go to Mombasa for his brother's funeral. Matt also meets big-game hunter Gil Rossi (Christopher Lee), who was helping George search for a valuable uranium mine. Hoyt claims the mine doesn't exist.
Another business partner, Elliott Hastings (Ron Randell), claims that George's body has been cremated but he did find a map. An expedition beyond Mombasa is formed, guided by Ketimi (Dan Jackson) and other local tribesmen. A shared experience with a charge of hippos brings Matt and Ann closer together, while Gil is nearly killed by an alligator before it is shot by Hastings.
Tribesmen wearing leopard disguises attack Hastings that night. Ketimi is then killed by a poison dart, causing the other tribesmen to leave. Locating a shaft to the mine, Elliot, Matt and Ann descend into it. She discovers to her horror that Hoyt, her uncle, has murdered Gil with a blow gun. Hoyt confesses to killing Ketimi and paying other natives to disguise themselves as the mythical Leopard Men.
Matt and Ann are about to become the next victims, but Ketimi's fellow tribesmen reappear and take their revenge. | insanity, murder | train | wikipedia | BEYOND MOMBASA (George Marshall, 1956) **1/2.
African adventures were constant entertainment fodder throughout the 1950s and beyond, where many a popular star took on the jungle with its wild animals and (often) equally hostile natives; in this case, it was strapping Cornel Wilde – rather ill-at-ease, however, playing a hard-drinking womanizer (especially given the various attempts made on his life by "Leopard Men" already responsible for his brother's death after having stumbled upon a deposit of uranium)!
This British-made production (albeit helmed by an American) features yet another stalwart cast – which also includes leading lady Donna Reed (who, as a bookish anthropologist, naturally starts by resenting Wilde's boorishness but eventually cannot resist his directness and obvious virility), Leo Genn (the outwardly benign missionary eventually revealed to be the mastermind behind the Mau Mau-inspired 'reign of terror', driven by a misguided sense of religious and civic duty), Ron Randell (who, as Wilde's brother's business partner, logically has the finger of suspicion pointing at him from the outset) and, in one of his more prominent pre-stardom roles, Christopher Lee (a big-game hunter of Italian descent who, even more unlikely, is played up to be the hero's romantic rival!).
The exotic locale supplies characteristic thrills (such as the inevitable cobra attack) and excessive (i.e. mostly irrelevant) local color but, shot by the redoubtable Freddie Young, it invariably pleases the eye (despite the panning-and-scanning involved in the TV-sourced copy I acquired).
The obligatory peril-fraught-trek-through-the-jungle (with tension among the protagonists palpable as they seek the lost mine) takes up the latter half of the narrative, culminating in Genn's going berserk and unleashing the "Leopard Men" on his trapped 'companions'
until the other natives rise up against these clandestine forces, since they find their activities giving them a bad name!.
Truly beyond belief.
As Hollywood produced films about Africa now had to be shot in Africa for realism's sake since King Solomon's Mines and The African Queen I suppose that Cornel Wilde and Donna Reed were grateful for the safari adventure they got courtesy of Columbia Pictures for filming Beyond Mombasa.
The location shooting in Mombasa and in the rest of what was then Kenya colony is this film's biggest asset.Wilde is in Africa having been sent for by his brother who even made hotel reservations in Mombasa for him.
Upon arrival he finds kindly missionary Leo Genn and his anthropologist niece Reed breaking the bad news about his brother's death at the hands of a revived cult of the Leopard.
Wilde thinks it might have been the very real Mau Maus, but Genn says it's the leopard crowd.Determined to get to the bottom of things, Wilde goes with Genn and Reed into the interior of Kenya, Beyond Mombasa to find where his brother might have found uranium.
Their guide is another partner of the brother Christopher Lee and they're to join yet a third partner Ron Randell near the mine.
I can't say any more lest I spoil a most ridiculous plot turn.
All I can say is that one of the cast has truly gone native.I suppose a good safari is a good enough reason to be in one stinker of a movie..
Anthropology getting mixed up with sedition and murder.
It could have been worse.
As it is, at least some of the actors are excellent, especially Christopher Lee as the only elegant mermber of the party, a dashing French hunter in Africa leading the others into the depths of the jungle to solve the mystery of Cornel Wilde's brother's mysterious death.
Cornel Wilde himself appears to be a somewhat rowdy Canadian, and it takes some time for Donna Reed to find any charm in that drunken buccaneer.
Leo Genn appears to be a somewhat sanctimonious missionary, but he is too good and placid to be true, and he never made the seminary.
There is one more interested party in the treasure hunt, but most interesting are the natives and their behaviour, especially their music - the trumpeteer Eddie Calvert has a guest performance in this colourful safari film, where you also see all kinds of other animals, the hippopotami and the crocodiles being the most impressive seconded by giraffes, and of course there is a tame chimpanzee.
It's not a bad film, there is some excitement and charm to it, the jungle environments are terrific with their hidden dangers, and it's not too long.
It's an entertainment with a fresh and nice dialogue, that at least should leave you happy and content afterwards when the curtain has fallen on the exotic drama of how an African sect could be manipulated out of the jungle..
Adventure and a dangerous mystery in Kenya..
George Marshall directs this Columbia Pictures East African travelogue.
Matt Campbell(Cornell Wilde) makes the trip to Mombasa, Kenya too late for his brother's funeral.
He discovers his brother did not die of natural causes, but murdered.
Matt would like to know who murdered him; but unsympathetically would like to know more about the location of a mine that his sibling wrote him about.
Early on arrival, Mr. Campbell meets with a missionary, Ralph Hoyt(Leo Genn)and Hoyt's niece Ann Wilson(Donna Reed)and joins them on safari and search for the valuable mine.
This is not a gold mine, nor diamond mine; but a uranium mine.
Several attempts are made on Matt's life and he knows someone seriously does not want him to locate the mine.
As the safari travels beyond Mombasa, natives speak of a white man being killed by a legendary tribe of "leopard men".
This action adventure seems a bit longer than the quoted running time of an hour and thirty minutes.
Sure some scenes may have been drawn out a bit; and any violence is not very shocking.
Banter between Wilde and Reed at times is playfully humorous.
Horror film veteran Christopher Lee plays a shady Frenchman.
Also supporting are Ron Randall and Dan Jackson.
This film was indeed filmed in Mombasa, Kenya..
Beyond Belief.
It is not clear exactly who this film was aimed at.Filmed in technicolour in Africa,with interiors in the UK with a largely British cast.The two main leads are American.So maybe this was made for the American as well as the British market.The story is rather strange.It seems to be utilising elements of the then current Mau mau uprising in Kenya and renaming them the Leopard people.Instead of seeking independence they are being led by a dotty English missionary,played by Leo Genn in a very unsatisfactory wig,to protect a uranium mine.In the meantime Wilde and Reed are having a truly tiresome romance.Some good location scenes but that is about all of interest..
Murder in Monbasa.
The characters are cardboard : the rough rider ,who has been through it all ,the beautiful heroine who cannot stand this rude guy,her wise uncle, and two sinister-looking guys ,plus the leopard men in the background.At first sight, the principal is a cynical guy who does not even want to attend his own brother's funeral ,but is only in it for the money;of course,as expected , further acquaintance shows actually a brave guy the reluctant heroine will become little by little mad about (and the other way about).Although it's labelled "adventures movie" ,it is actually a whodunit : who killed
the unfortunate brother who discovered uranium in his mine?Every member of the expedition is a suspect .The stupefied expression on the last victim's face is pure thriller.Spoiler:
The most interesting side of this story is religious fanatism :how a man who thinks he serves as the instrument of the wrathful petulant Jehovah of Victorian Sunday schools can awaken the old superstitions of the natives and use their own creed .
However,as there are absolutely no clues, no forerunner, whilst the identity of the culprit is unexpected,it is a rather implausible.Cornell Wilde's African adventures are best appreciated in his own " Naked prey"(1966) ,his extraordinary "most dangerous game" . |
tt0106918 | The Firm | Clive Bissel (nicknamed "Bex", or "Bexy") is a married man with a baby son. He is the leader of a hooligan firm known as the ICC (Inter City Crew). His wife no longer approves of his activities as a football hooligan, which contrast to his respectable job as an estate agent. Even when his baby son injures himself with a craft knife Bexy has carelessly left lying around, he is unwilling to give up violence as he admits it gives him a "buzz". Conversely, Bexy's father shows acceptance of his son's lifestyle, happily taking a group photograph of the 'tooled up' gang and boasting of similar activities in his own era. However, he feels that Bex and his friends have gone soft because they now use weapons and worry too much about strategy, instead of just getting on with fighting rival mobs.
The film begins with a rival gang called "The Buccaneers" vandalising Bexy's Ford Sierra XR4x4 and spraying graffiti in a football dressing room while Bexy and his mates are playing football. Bexy's arch nemesis and leader of the Bucaneeers Yeti then drives a white Volkswagen Golf GTi cabriolet across the football pitch.
With an imminent international football tournament in Holland, Bexy wants to form a 'National Firm' - comprising several rival gangs - big enough to take on the well organised and large international hooligan groups. Bexy meets leaders from other firms in the Tower Hotel in London, including the Buccaneers. The other gangs like the idea but don't like the idea of Bexy being top boy. The rival firms then agree to fight each other in order to determine who will lead the new, amalgamated firm into Europe.
Bex and his fellow hooligans only possess any kind of social status amongst their own groups, and Bex relishes being looked up to and admired by the younger men in his own firm. Bexy used his natural leadership qualities to cajole and encourage his peers, and uses intimidation to cement his position as leader of the ICC. These young men think of themselves as important, respected figures in their local community, but Bexy's wife tells him that the truth is somewhat different. Everyone thinks of him as a joke, she says, but because they fear his violent nature, few are willing to point out to him that he isn't the working class hero he thinks he is.
The ICC survive violent clashes with the other gangs but must still defeat the Buccaneers. Bexy is relishing the chance to defeat Yeti. Bexy beats up Yeti during the ICC's clash with the Buccaneers in a pub but is then shot dead by an injured Yeti. Just before being shot, Bexy expresses astonishment and disbelief Yeti has a gun and say's 'Oh, come on!' before Yeti pulls the trigger.
The closing scene depicts the surviving ICC members in a pub, honouring Bexy as a hero. They claim when they are fighting European firms at the forthcoming tournament, they will be doing so in memory of their dead leader. The hooligans from three different firms, who were fighting each other not long ago, agree that Bex was a visionary who brought them together giving him legendary status. The death of Bexy doing nothing to make them change their behaviour and they vow to continue. | suspenseful, mystery, murder, violence | train | wikipedia | The lives of Mitch and his wife Abby (Jeanne Triplehorn) are completely and drastically changed when he is hired by the firm, setting up a disorienting atmosphere, especially when strange things start happening, people getting killed by boat bombs and whatnot.
Ed Harris also delivers a good performance as an FBI agent trying to coerce McDeere into helping them investigate the big bad firm.
It may not be quite as good as other John Grisham adaptations, The Rainmaker, in particular, but The Firm's complex and fascinating plot, as well as good direction and acting, makes it way above average..
Tom Cruise is excellent as a young man who joins a small but prosperous law firm, only to discover that all the perks he enjoys come at great expense to his integrity, not to mention his life.
It was pretty close, with the difference mainly lying in the ending, and that where Sydney Pollack makes this story go from good to great: The book, at the end, makes Mitch out to be a coward and a traitor at the end, by making him give into the FBI.
Tom Cruise, the All American kid from the trailer park who worked his way through Harvard Law School, just got the dream job with a prestigious white shoe law firm in Memphis, Tennessee.
They're not above a little blackmail and entrapment and they've got a security man in Wilford Brimley who's real good at it.How Tom Cruise gets out of this rock and a hard place situation is the plot of The Firm.
Winning both would have just been a bit too much for the Academy voters.The Firm has a far fetched plot to be sure in the way that Tom Cruise brings them all down.
Small wonder that Tom Cruise was chosen to star in the big screen adaptations of that television classic.When I watch The Firm, I'm reminded of that line from another television classic that one Hannibal Smith used to say about he loved it when a plan comes together.
The film features a well-known cast, and as soon as the action kicks in this becomes a very tense story.Tom Cruise is very good as the hotshot lawyer, as is Jeanne Tripplehorn who plays his unhappy wife.
So much is explained so fast at the end it's tough to comprehend it all.Wilfred Brimley, Gene Hackman, Hal Holbrook, Holly Hunter, Robert Strathairn and Ed Harris all make this a really deep, impressive cast.
The Firm (1993)The twist in the plot as you realize this Memphis law firm is not what it seems, and the rather innocent freshman lawyer played by Tom Cruise is slow to catch on, is the core of the movie, and a relief.
When "The Firm" came out was - believe it or not - the first time that I had ever heard of Tom Cruise (although I didn't see the movie until several years later).
Cruise plays novice lawyer Mitch McDeere, who goes to work for a Memphis firm.
Also starring Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman, Hal Holbrook, Wilford Brimley, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, David Strathairn and Gary Busey.It's hard to believe that this was the first movie adaptation of a John Grisham novel..
Tom Cruise had a decent performance, but I felt the performances of Gene Hackman, Hal Holbrook, and Wilford Brimley were especially great and put this film above most similar movies.
Back in the early 1990's, movies based on lawyers and law were everything, so it's no surprise that many of John Grisham's books were adapted into screen during this time, including this movie The Firm.
The Firm is actually a really tense, character-driven thriller that works despite a stuffy running time and a very confusing plot(especially the last half-hour.) The screenplay is effective, but kudos to those who can follow the entirety of the plot because it was hard to follow at times.Sydney Pollack's film is about this very smart man who is on the cusp of graduating from Harvard when he is offered a package at this law firm in Memphis which can afford him an affluent lifestyle.
When the FBI talks to him about the firm and asks him to be an insider, Mitch McDeere's life will be forever changed.This film has a well-rounded cast and everyone is put to good use.
We also get smaller key performances from Ed Harris as the FBI investigator and David Strathairn as Mitch's older brother, Ray who is serving time for manslaughter.Overall, The Firm is a very interesting movie.
Now, in conclusion, if you are a fan of Tom Cruise or Gene Hackman, or you enjoyed John Grisham's title novel, I highly recommend this movie.
Based on the novel by John Grisham the film benefits from interesting characters brought to life by an excellent cast, and it effectively builds an atmosphere of suspense and intrigue, but they're marred by the film's long running time, an odd (and inappropriate) score, and a third act that runs around before finally arriving at a resolution that's much too pat.
Cruise and Tripplehorn sizzle throughout the movie, but never more so than in the penultimate scene when he repeatedly asks "Have I lost you?" Her answer simply melts the heart.The writing is of course superb, and, although the ending, different from the book, has been criticized, I found it an amazing extrication from a situation which compels the viewer to believe is hopeless.
I am not impressed with Tom Cruise as an actor, but this is one movie I MIGHT watch again, due to the seriously gifted cast, including Miss Tripplehorn.
RELEASED IN 1993 and directed by Sydney Pollack based on John Grisham's novel, "The Firm" is a crime drama/thriller starring Tom Cruise as a top Harvard grad lawyer who desperately wants to leave behind his working-class origins and takes a high-paying job at a firm in Memphis.
Here, we see the John Grisham's classic novel turned into a classic thriller with excellent cast, including Gene Hackman, Jane Tripplehorn, Gary Busey, Ed Harris among many, and then there is Tom Cruise who delivers his best role as a young and aspiring lawyer, Mitch McDeere.
The movie is very captivating, and it runs very smooth, allowing us to enjoy the splendid play, great music score by Dave Grusin and like every moment of this very fresh and strong film.
The movie "The Firm" without doubt is one of Tom Cruise best films.
A bunch of Mafia thugs who are laundering money back and forth to the Cayman Islands.Cruise gives a believable performance as Mitch McDeere who is on the run from the Mafia.Gene Hackman also gives one of his best performances as Avery Tolar since Lex Luther in (The Superman Movies), and Secretary David Brice in (No Way Out).
There were other good performances from Jeanne Tripplehorn, Holly Hunter as Tammy, Gary Busey as Eddie Lomax, Wilford Brimley as the scary grim-faced law enforcer for the firm.Overall, the film moves along nicely with Cruise carrying most of the film.However, being a John Grisham fan and having read the book I thought the film makers could have stuck to the ending in the book.
In this excitingly convoluted genre piece by Sydney Pollack---who blossomed into a straightforwardly commercial director who was happily a part of the commercial mainstream, unlike such surviving contemporaries as Sidney Lumet and Woody Allen---Tom Cruise plays Mitch McDeere, a poor boy who is embarrassed by his meager roots now that he has graduated from Harvard Law fifth in his class.
To protect himself, Mitch has to exercise both mind and body, eluding hit men and outwitting lawyers, to save both his life and his license to practice law.Drawn from the novel by John Grisham, as adapted by three of the most high-priced screenwriters at the time, this star-studded suspense melodrama takes an admirable two and a half hours to work its way through a hair-splitting ethical hodgepodge.
So much is going on in this movie and it keeps you in suspense the entire time......One of the original John Grisham movies, now a classic, and a very well-written story.........The actress who plays Tom Cruise's wife is just beautiful, but she seems to have dropped out of sight since that movie.
With Sydney Pollock(Tootsie, Three Days In Condor) as the director, and a cast that includes Gene Hackman, Holly Hunter, Ed Harris, Hal Holbrook, and cameo appearences by Gary Busey, and Paul Sorvino, you really cant go wrong.
Before watching this film, the only thing I knew about it was that Tom Cruise was a lawyer, and Gene Hackman was the bad guy ( no surprises there then.) Cruise and Hackman actually make a brilliant pair.
These are the sources for the movie " The Firm." Our idealistic hero is one Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise), fresh from prestigious Harvard Law School, lands a job with a obscure but powerful Memphis law firm.
The Firm is a decent movie with a promising storyline that dosen't really deliver.The movie certainly shouldn't be called a thriller,it wasn't very exciting and it wasn't something that I couldn't keep my eye away from.I was impressed with Tom Cruise,Jeanne Tripplehorn,Gene Hackman and Ed Harris performances and their probably the only reason why this score isn't much lower,because their all just very talented and did the best they possibly could with this overall dull and boring movie.I wouldn't recommend the Firm,especially not to fans of thriller's,it isn't exciting as the story makes it seem,and it is dragged out way too much,with two hours and a half,and it gets boring after about the first hour.The movie is too plain,simple and long but fans of these actors will appreciate their performances.Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise),a trained lawyer,joins a prestigious law firm only to discover their business is dangerously shady..
Film is a tense thriller about a lawyer who joins a mysterious law firm which turns out to be quite a different enterprise.
Tom Cruise and Gene Hackman head a fine cast that brings John Grisham's best-seller to life as partners who try to leave the firm find themselves and their families in grave danger.
An all-star cast which includes Gene Hackman, Wilford Brimley, Gary Busey, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Hal Holbrook, Ed Harris, David Strathairn and Holly Hunter (in an oddball Oscar-nominated role) helps to keep John Grisham's wild novel believable and coherent.
Of course you still notice the changes but don't spend as much time dwelling on the changes while watching the film.I hope that Hollywood makes Grisham's THE PARTNER into a movie, it is as good as if not better than THE FIRM.
An unsuspecting young rookie lawyer Mitch McDeere(Tom Cruise) fresh out of Harvard has being hired by a most prestigious law firm in Memphis.
A pretty exciting if far-fetched film - the invoicing methods adopted by the Firm were, however, pretty realistic in my experience!Very good performances from Tom Cruise and Gene Hackman.Not a classic but an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours..
THE FIRM (1993) ***** 'The Firm' proves primarily that Corporate hot shots don't always have everything going for them...at least not for Tom Cruise, a fresh lawyer out of Harvard University esteemed with honors of great competency and greater potential, who's life comes crashing down at the least expected time.
Superb score (Dave Gruslin) and story work (adaptation of John Grisham's novel), as well as a first-rate supporting cast of Gene Hackman, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, and Wilford Brimley.
It reminded me of the kind of filler they used to show on TV on aWednesday afternoon.The direction is laughable and the cast of stars is almostcompletely wasted.Some of the more minor characters like the FBI agent and thePrivate detective are okay, but are totally wasted on this worthlesspiece of garbage.I could actually feel myself aging whilst enduring this in thecinema.Strangely I seemed to be the only one who realized how dreadfulthe supposedly 'erotic' seduction on the beach was.How I didn't laugh out loud I'll never know.I can't help but think that John Grisham's novels are not well suitedto being filmed.Worst of all, everything seemed at least 20 years out of date.In a word?
And Tom Cruise and Gene Hackman are fine actors of course, no doubt about that, but it was just too predictable and unbelievable.As a conclusion I would like to say that it certainly had potential and from time to time there was a lot of suspense, but they should have made it more believable.
For anyone in the audience who can suspend their disbelief, they may find the film action interesting, the acting passable, the film was shot in Memphis, Tennessee; there are some interesting scenes and settings.Gene Hackman, Tom Cruise, David Strathairn, Wilford Brimley, Gary Busey and Holly Hunter make for an interesting cast, and decent acting, but I had difficulty accepting the overall premise.For some reason, films made from mystery/suspense novels do not always gel.
The Firm is a legal thriller film released in 1993, directed by Sydney Pollack, and starring Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, Gary Busey, and David Strathairn.
I eagerly anticipated this movie, but was somewhat disappointed in its flat directing, uninspired acting by a good cast, convoluted ending and changes from the book.
The book was far better than the film, Tom Cruise doesn't really bring anything to the role of Mitch, Wilford Brimley is miscast as Bill De Vasher, the head of security, the great Gene Hackman is given little to do as Mitch's mentor, Hal Holbrook probably comes off best among the stars.
John Grisham's legal-tinged novels may not be known for their depth, but their page-turning plots attract film makes by the dozen, and 'The Firm', directed by Sydney Pollack, is a typical example.
THE FIRM (1993) *** Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman, Hal Holbrook, Ed Harris, Gary Busey, Holly Hunter, Wilford Brimley, David Strathairn, Steven Hill.
Featuring great performances and a breezy plot The Firm was a big success then and is still a good film today..
Invited to join a mysterious legal firm on a high salary, a law school graduate begins to suspect that something is amiss in this riveting Tom Cruise movie.
A young lawyer (Tom Cruise) joins a prestigious law firm only to discover that it has a sinister dark side.Roger Ebert gave "The Firm" three stars out of four, remarking: "The movie is virtually an anthology of good small character performances.
The large gallery of characters makes The Firm into a convincing canvas but with a screenplay that developed the story more clearly, this might have been a superior movie, instead of just a good one with some fine performances." I think Ebert is spot on here.
Sydney Pollack directed this adaptation of the John Grisham novel that stars Tom Cruise as Mitch McDeere, who is recruited by a powerful but mysterious "firm" to work for their exclusive and wealthy clients.
Also, the impressive star-cast, pitch in some real good performances.'The Firm' is a legal thriller, where A Harvard Law School grad, played by Tom Cruise, discovers that the law firm he has recently joined is run by the Mafia.Based on the 1991 novel by the same name by author John Grisham, This flick offers a set of interesting & gripping moments.
A Movie about Dowe,Cheatem & Howe law firm, when the associates are not overbilling and getting high in Cayman Islands are bugging the sweet whisperings of newly married played by Holly Hunter as Abby and Tom Cruise as the hubby.
I have seen this film several times and enjoy watching except for Jeanne Tripplehorn 's casting as Cruise's wife Abby.Although she is a year younger than him, she looks too mature for him and comes across more like his aunt or mother than a wife.
Here, he is supported by an amazing cast including a very understated Gene Hackman, the under-rated Ed Harris and the under-utilized Gary Busey.Even at over 2 1/2 hours, it is missing much from the book and the ending was completely rewritten as the chase through the Florida keys in the novel would have required a 2 hour movie all by itself.
Cruise did his good performance in this movie, Gene Hackman too.
What the movie made worth for watching to me, was the perfect casting of Tom Cruise as the young, enthusiastic lawyer Mitch Mc Deere He harmonized perfect with the character of the book.
the Firm was one good movie, but I may say that I dislike Tom Cruise.
Anyway, the film was good, the plot was intriguing and I may say That Grisham is a great writer, and any movies done on any of his books are great.
As he starts working for The Firm, Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise) comes to realize that their only client is an organized crime syndicate and he's trapped inside.
I am not a fan of these legal thriller things never read a book by John Grisham (I've never been that bored on holiday!) and didn't find the glut of films from his work to be as inspiring as their box office success would suggest that they were.
Despite being a very "slick" Hollywood production, those "plusses" make the film interesting enough to enjoy from beginning to end.For a basic plot summary, "The Firm" sees young lawyer Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise) & his wife Abby (Jeanne Tripplehorn) courted in a prestigious fashion by a Memphis law firm.
Tom Cruise is too much the movie celebrity to fit the role of Mitch McDeere.
Mitch McDeere (Tom Cruise) is a young hot shot Harvard law graduate.
Based on a John Grisham novel about an ambitious young man and a really evil law firm (it's not as terrible as it sounds, and is probably Grisham's best book as a whole, although that is a little like picking my favorite genital wart), this flat Sydney Pollack thriller from 1993 is nowhere near as fun as it should have been (come on!
Tom Cruise running from an evil law firm? |
tt1390398 | Bless Me, Ultima | Set in the small town of Guadalupe, New Mexico just after World War II, Antonio Márez y Luna (Tony) tells his story from the memories of his adult self, who reflects on his growing up. The novel opens as the protagonist, Antonio, approaches the age of seven when his family decides to house Ultima, an elderly curandera. Ultima, known as “La Grande” in the Márez household, embodies the wisdom of her ancestors and carries the powers to heal, to confront evil, knowledge of how to use the power of nature and the ability to understand the relationship between the living and the spirits. Tony's parents both hold conflicting views about Tony's destiny and battle over his future path. In the first chapter Anaya establishes the roots of this struggle through Tony's dream—a flashback to the day of his birth. In his dream, Tony views the differences between his parents' familial backgrounds. His father's side, the Márez (descendents of the sea), are the restless vaqueros who roam the llanos and seek adventure. The Lunas, his mother's side, are the people of the moon, religious farmers whose destiny is to homestead and work the land. Each side of the family wants control of the newborn's future. His mother's dream is for him to become a Roman Catholic priest, his father's dream is to embark on a new adventure and move west to California with his sons to recapture the openness of the Llano he has foregone in moving to the town. As the two families argue over Antonio’s destiny, Ultima, serving as the midwife, declares, “Only I will know his destiny.”
Following an immediate bond with Ultima, Antonio learns of the many herbs and barks, which she uses in her ceremonies.Tony's progress in learning about life is grounded in Ultima, who is highly respected by his parents. However, one night Antonio witnesses the death of a man back from the war, which makes him question his religion and identity, and sparks his journey towards manhood. Antonio begins school in the fall, where he is portrayed as an excelling student, which greatly pleases his mother.
Tony's First Communion experience leaves him disillusioned as he did not receive the spiritual knowledge he had expected. He begins to question the value of the Catholic Church, concentrated on the Virgin Mary and a Father God, and on ritual, as unable to answer his moral and metaphysical dilemmas. At the same time, realizing that the Church represents the female values of his mother, Tony cannot bring himself to accept the lawlessness, violence and unthinking sensuality which his father and older brothers symbolize. Instead through his relationship with Ultima, he discovers a oneness with nature. Through his discovery that "All is One" he is able to resolve the major existential conflict in his life.One day, while socializing with his friends they tell him the story of the Golden Carp. Antonio also continues to be an example for the children, who praise his religious savant as they dress him as a priest while preparing for first communion. Antonio’s admiration for Ultima strengthens as he continues to question his faith, hoping to understand once he takes communion for the first time.
When Antonio’s Uncle Lacos falls ill, presumably due to a curse by Tenorio’s three evil daughters, Antonio must come to grips with the opposition between good and evil. Ultima, in her role as protector, uses her knowledge of healing and magic to neutralize the evil witchcraft and, despite lacking priestly recognition, emerges as the only one who can cure him from death.
In another traumatic death, Antonio witnesses the murder of Narciso, known as the town drunk, by Tenorio, a malicious saloon-keeper and barber in El Puerto. As a result, Antonio becomes ill and enters a dream-like state. Tenorio blames Ultima for the death of one of his daughters, claiming that his daughter passed because Ultima cursed her. Tenorio plots his revenge on Ultima throughout the duration of the novel.
The determined Tenorio emerges in the final scenes as he chases Antonio back to the Màrez house, where Tenorio shoots Ultima’s owl. Following the death of the owl, Ultima quickly follows and is accompanied by Antonio at her bedside as she dies. Before her death, she instructs Antonio to collect her medicines and herbs before destroying them by the river.
At the conclusion of the novel, Antonio reflects on the tension that he feels as he is pulled between his father's free, open landscape of the llano, and his mother's circumscribed river valley of the town. In addition, he reflects on the pull between Catholicism and the continuation of Ultima's spiritual legacy and concludes that he does not need to choose one over the other, but can bring both together to form a new identity and a new religion that is made up of both. Antonio says to his father:
Take the llano and the river valley, the moon and the sea, God and the golden carp—and make something new... Papa, can a new religion be made?
=== Characters ===
Antonio Juan Márez y Luna – Antonio is 7 and very serious, thoughtful, and prone to moral questioning, and his experiences force him to confront difficult issues that blur the lines between right and wrong. He turns to both pagan and Christian ideologies for guidance, but he doubts both traditions. With Ultima’s help, Antonio makes the transition from childhood to adolescence and begins to make his own choices and to accept responsibility for their consequences.
Gabriel Márez and Maria Luna – Tony's parents. Both hold conflicting views about Tony's destiny and battle over his future path. While Gabriel represents the roaming life of a vaquero and hopes for Tony to follow this path of life, Maria represents the settled life of hard-working farmers and aspires for her son to become a priest.
Ultima – An elderly curandera, known in the Márez household as "La Grande" is the embodiment of the wisdom of her ancestors and carries within her the powers to heal, to confront evil, to use the power of nature and to understand the relationship between the seen and unseen. Her role in the community is as mediator. "She preserves the indispensable contact with the world of nature and the supernatural forces inhabiting this universe (255)." She is the spiritual guide for Antonio as he journeys through childhood. Ultima knows the ways of the Catholic Church and also the ways of the indigenous spiritual practices over which she is master. Ultima understands the philosophy and the morality of the ancient peoples of New Mexico and teaches Tony through example, experience and critical reflection, the universal principles that explain and sustain life. Although she is generally respected in the community, people sometimes misunderstand her power. At times she is referred to as a bruja, or witch, but no one—not even Antonio—knows whether or not she is truly a witch. Finally Antonio puts pieces of the puzzle together and the revelation of who she is comes to him. She holds Antonio's destiny in her hands, and at the end of the story sacrifices her own life so that Antonio might live.
Tenorio Trementina and his three daughters – Tenorio is a malicious saloon-keeper and barber in El Puerto. His three daughters perform a black mass and place a curse on Antonio's uncle Lucas Luna. Tenorio detests Ultima because she lifts the curse on Lucas and soon after she does so, one of Tenorio’s daughters dies. Hot-tempered and vengeful, Tenorio spends the rest of the novel plotting Ultima’s death, which he finally achieves by killing her owl familiar, her spiritual guardian. Afterwards, he tries to kill Antonio but is shot by Uncle Pedro.
Ultima's Owl – Embodies Ultima's soul, the power of her mysticism, and her life force. The song the owl sings softly outside Antonio’s window at night indicates Ultima’s presence and magical protection in Antonio’s life. Ultima's owl scratches Tenorio's eye out as he stands in Gabriel's doorway and demands the right to take Ultima away from Gabriel's house. By the end of the novel Tenorio has figured out the connection between Ultima and her owl. By killing Ultima's owl, Tenorio destroys Ultima’s soul and life force, which leads quickly to her death. Antonio takes on the responsibility of burying the owl and realizes that he is really burying Ultima.
Lupito – A war veteran who has post-traumatic stress disorder. After Lupito murders the local sheriff in one of his deranged moments, he is killed by the sheriff and his posse as young Antonio looks on from his hiding place on the banks of the river. Lupito’s violent death provides the catalyst for Antonio’s serious moral and religious questioning.
"Lucas Luna" – Antonio's uncle, who gets cursed by the Trementina sisters when he tries to stop them from practicing black magic. As a result, he gets so sick that Ultima is summoned to cure him. She concocts a potient of herbs, water, and kerosene as a purgative and uses Antonio's innocence as a mediator to effect the cure.
Narciso – Although known as the town drunk, Narciso cuts a large, strong figure of a man. Narciso and Gabriel are good friends because they share a deep and passionate love for the llano. Narciso has a deep abiding loyalty and love for Ultima because of her extraordinary efforts to save his young wife who had succumbed to an epidemic that struck the town. Narciso demonstrates a strong appreciation for the richness of the earth —his garden is a lush masterpiece full of sweet vegetables and fruits. Tenorio kills him as he is on his way to warn Ultima that Tenorio is after her. As he lies dying in Antonio's arms, he asks Antonio to give him a blessing.
Téllez – One of Gabriel’s friends. He challenges Tenorio when Tenorio speaks badly of Ultima. Not long afterward, a curse is laid on his home. Ultima agrees to lift the curse, explaining that Téllez’s grandfather once hanged three Comanche Indians for raiding his flocks. Ultima performs a Comanche funeral ceremony on Téllez’s land, and ghosts cease to haunt his home.
Antonio’s friends: Abel, Bones, Ernie, Horse, Lloyd, Red, and the Vitamin Kid – An exuberant group of boys who frequently curse and fight. Horse loves to wrestle, but everyone fears Bones more because he is reckless and perhaps even crazy. Ernie is a braggart who frequently teases Antonio. The Vitamin Kid is the fastest runner in Guadalupe. Red is a Protestant, so he is often teased by the other boys. Lloyd enjoys reminding everyone that they can be sued for even the most minor offenses. Abel, the smallest boy in the group, frequently urinates in inappropriate places.
Samuel – One of Antonio’s friends. He is also the Vitamin Kid’s brother. Unlike most of Antonio’s friends, Samuel is gentle and quiet. He tells Antonio about the golden carp. It is here that Antonio starts questioning his faith.
Florence – One of Antonio's friends who does not believe in God, but goes to catechism to be with his friends. Florence shows Antonio that the Catholic Church is not perfect. He dies in a very bad drowning accident.
Jasón Chávez – One of Antonio’s friends. He disobeys his father when he continues to visit an Indian who lives near the town. He is described by Antonio as being moody.
Jasón Chávez’s Indian – A friend of Jasón’s who is disliked by Jasón’s father. Cico tells Antonio that the story of the golden carp originally comes from the Indian.
Andrew, Eugene, and León Márez – Antonio’s brothers. For most of Antonio’s childhood, his brothers are fighting in World War II. When they return home, they suffer post-traumatic stress as a result of the war. Restless and depressed, they all eventually leave home to pursue independent lives, crushing Gabriel’s dream of moving his family to California.
Deborah and Theresa Márez – Antonio’s older sisters. Most of the time, they play with dolls and speak English, a language Antonio does not begin to learn until he attends school.
Antonio’s uncles – Juan, Lucas, Mateo, and Pedro Luna – María’s brothers are farmers. They struggle with Gabriel to lay a claim to Antonio’s future. They want him to become a farmer or a priest, but Gabriel wants Antonio to be a vaquero in the Márez tradition. Antonio’s uncles are quiet and gentle, and they plant their crops by the cycle of the moon.
Father Byrnes – A stern Catholic priest with hypocritical and unfair policies. He teaches catechism to Antonio and his friends. He punishes Florence for the smallest offenses because Florence challenges the Catholic orthodoxy, but he fails to notice, and perhaps even ignores, the misbehavior of the other boys. Rather than teach the children to understand God, he teaches them to fear God.
Chávez – Chávez is the father of Antonio’s friend Jasón. Distraught and vengeful, he leads a mob to find Lupito after Lupito kills Chávez’s brother, the local sheriff. He forbids Jasón to visit an Indian who lives near the town, but Jasón disobeys him.
Prudencio Luna – The father of María and her brothers. He is a quiet man who prefers not to become involved in other peoples’ conflicts. When Tenorio declares an all out war against Ultima, he does not want his sons to get involved, even though Ultima saved Lucas’s life.
Miss Maestas – Antonio’s first-grade teacher. Although Antonio does not speak English well, Miss Maestas recognizes his bright spark of intelligence. Under her tutelage, Antonio unlocks the secrets of words. She promotes him to the third grade at the end of the year.
Miss Violet – Antonio's third grade teacher. He, with Abel, Bones, Ernie, Horse, Lloyd, Red, and the Vitamin Kid, set up a play about the First Christmas on a dark and snowy night, which turns into a hilarious disaster because of the ever crazy Bones.
Rosie – The woman who runs the local brothel. Antonio has a deep fear of the brothel because it represents sin. He is devastated when he finds out that his brother Andrew frequently goes to it.
The flying man – This man was Ultima’s teacher and was also known as el hombre volador. He gave her the owl that became her spirit familiar, her guardian, and her soul. He told her to do good works with her powers, but to avoid interfering with a person’s destiny. The invocation of his name inspires awe and respect among the people who have heard about his legendary powers and incites fear in Tenorio Trementina. | good versus evil, magical realism | train | wikipedia | I like the way that in the book for Bless Me, Ultima they really show dichotomy between Antonio's Mom and Dad. Maria wanting Antonio to follow his Luna blood line and Gabriel wanting him to follow his Marez blood.
They did a great job of making this movie and show the conflicts in Antonio's life when he was young.
The arc climaxes with little fanfare, but you will no doubt be left with a sense of how and why the supernatural, deeply woven into the daily life of these comunidades, helps people navigate the paradoxes of "good" and "evil." In a period when Latinos, as a demographic are coming of age politically, and while at once courted and loathed, Bless Me, Ultima is timely, but also transcendent and universal.
Ultima is taken in by his parents due to her having nobody else in the late stages of her life.The story shows the importance that religion played in the Mexican culture and how the taboo of the unknown was shunned by most.
And also being true to the book.The story was narrated from the character Antonio who takes us back to his childhood days.
Bless Me, Ultima Both the movie and the book expressed a wide view of different moods, details, and analysis.
The book took the story one step at a time as the author, Rudolfo Anaya, progressively showed how the main character Antonio developed along with the conflicts of the novel.
I liked to see each of the ways that Bless Me Ultima is expressed, but overall, the movie and the book was good..
Her grandson, Antonio, narrates the story throughout, and so we hear an adult voice with the visual of a little boy learning about the meaning of life from Ultima.
Based on the 1972 novel by Rudolfo Anaya (a favorite among high school English teachers), "Bless Me, Ultima" is an autobiographical coming-of-age tale set in 1940s New Mexico.
It is the latter, in particular, that ends up causing trouble with some of the people in the village, who suspect her of being a "bruja." Written and directed by Carl Franklin, "Bless Me, Ultima" is what "To Kill a Mockingbird" might have been like had Harper Lee seen fit to imbue it with generous touches of Magic Realism (in that version Boo Radley probably would have been an actual ghost).
As befits the genre that also brought us "Like Water for Chocolate," "Bless Me, Ultima" comes replete with incantations, magic spells and a Significant Owl that passively observes all the human activity, then swoops in at keys moments of the story to make its presence felt.
On the other hand, the wide-eyed Luke Ganalon makes for an appealing and charming Antonio, and Benito Martinez ("The Shield," "Sons of Anarchy") scores as the dad who dreams of one day moving his family to California.Despite all the supernatural and preternatural touches, "Bless Me, Ultima" feels overall pretty familiar as coming-of-age tales go, but the unusual setting and Ganalon's performance earn it a mild recommendation..
In the film version of Bless Me, Ultima, Franklin seems to be most heavily influenced by the culture aspect of the book.
Confronted with the age-old question of why evil exists in the world, the film's central character, Antonio, finds many explanations including those offered but his religious upbringing, those offered by his peers including those of an atheist, and those of his grandmother.
In the Book there was a magical feel to it something straight out of a fairy tale, But in this movie Carl Franklin did not capture that at all the locations where great and all and the sound is amazing but that was all that was going for the movie.
Each critical moment in the film was backed by some beautiful music to set the mood my Favorite scene was when we first meet Tenorio, Narciso was warning the family about Tenorio and his followers where coming for Ultima because Tenorio thinks Ultima is a Bruja (witch) and killed his daughter with a curse.
So at the beginning of the scene Narciso barges in Antonios home with a warning about Tenorio then you can hear an angry mob in the distance then you hear and owl then the music was very worrisome you knew right off the bat something bad was coming and it was coming fast Tony and his father step out into the front yard to confront Tenorio and his followers after a back and forth with Tenorio, Tony and his father are moved aside after Tenorio calls Ultima a Bruja then the owl takes Tenorio's eye.
One of a few great scenes in my opinion Over all good book OK movie..
We see a bit of that in the movie but nothing like the book but overall Franklin did a decent job using techniques like lighting and sound to bring the book, characters and struggles to life but really lacked on showing the predicaments the Antonio faced..
In this 2013 film, "Bless Me, Ultima",(Directed and Screen played by Carl Franklin and based on the novel by Rudolfo Anaya) displays a spiritual and generally hardworking town of old time agricultural Chicano people living in New Mexico during WW2.
In one of the first dangerous scenes in the film in which Lupito was killed, Antonio was in the grass hiding to watch what was happening on the bridge and the director uses a a medium long shot to show Antonio in the grass to make him appear small and innocent and the purpose of this scene was to show a small piece of his innocence being stripped but actually the scene made Antonio contain more innocence due to his facial expression and how expressed his feelings in the scene by running away extremely scared.
Both the movie and the book for Bless Me, Ultima have very intense scenes.
The movie gets the upper hand in that the music played really intensifies the mood and allows you to feel the emotion behind every single scene that the book is unable to do.
I felt like I knew Antonio more from reading his thoughts in the book than watching him in the movie.
Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima is now both a movie and a book.
The movie showed and described the characters in person so it brought you closer to the story than the book could have done.
One can admire the extreme care the production has gone through to recreate an era, with its accurate costume and sets, and somehow the script appears to have all the lines in the right place, but the movie just feels quite pedestrian, like a rehearsal, and a bad one...The story deals with the eternal dilemma of how people perceive that which can't be understood, the different, the strange, even when this helps some of the people that deny it later.
I kept thinking back to Sergio Leone who could make children's relationships come alive in "Once Upon a Time in America", and even Richard Donner could get some emotions across in his movies, but this one feels like someone left the camera rolling and just whatever."Bless the Ultima" must be more than what is projected here.
The film version of the book, directed by Carl Franklin, attempted to bring the scenes to life, and portray Anaya's visions of the book.
I feel there were many important scenes in the book that were significant to Antonio's struggles, as well as his aging process.
'Bless Me, UItima' is a wonderful coming-of-age film with fine filmmaking and at times was quite magical.This story takes place towards the tail-end of World War II in rural New Mexico and focuses on a loving Hispanic family.
When a dear family friend and healer moves in by the name of Ultima, young Antonio is entranced by her and the two form a connection to which Ultima teaches Antonio how to respect and love nature and the Earth in order to lead a good life.Ultima herself knows she doesn't have that much time in the world, so she does everything she can to teach Antonio her knowledge and other-worldly skills.
The novel goes much deeper into this paranormal and witchcraft like aspect, however this film adaptation directed by Carl Franklin focuses more on the young Antonio going through his boyhood and discovering the light and dark sides of life.Antonio goes to a strict Catholic school where kids are punished more often that actually getting an education and befriends a kid who does not believe in God. He is picked on in school for being different, intelligent, and having a "witch" living with him.
Now this might seem like an adult movie at times, buy Franklin used a young and light touch while telling this story and is more a coming-of-age film than a paranormal thriller about witchcraft.Franklin shows us the beautiful landscapes of rural New Mexico, where it was actually filmed throughout the movie, and we get a glimpse of just how beautiful the world is for Antonio, despite the horrific things that are going on around him.
And Luke Ganalon plays the young Antonio who does a decent job playing the straight and narrow and I'm sure with time will come into his own.'Bless Me, Ultima' was an endearing film full of wonder, magic, and family.
Moreover, the story explored, through the relationship between young Antonio and the wise old curandera Ultima, the meaning of the connections human beings have with one another and the natural world of which they are a part, all beautifully weaved together by the skill of the author Rudolfo Anaya.
(I will also add that, when I read the novel, its simple but powerful evocation of a distant time and place, the love between a growing and inquisitive boy and the old woman who effectively serves as his grandmother, and the neo-pagan lessons she imparts all helped me through a tough time, which is certainly one of the blessings of great writing.) So one can imagine my excitement when it was announced a film version was finally in the works and now, after having seen the movie, one may also imagine my disappointment over a work that is barely a shadow of the book.
The 2013 Film Bless Me Ultima, Directed by Carl Franklin and based on the novel written by Rudolfo Anaya, shares great messages of God and family.
The main character Antonio struggles with his faith and the life his family has planned out for him, at the age of 7.
Franklin's use of reaction shots perfectly portray the chaos that occurs in the film, allowing the viewers to feel for the characters.
It lacks a sense of emotion and the relationship between Ultima and Antonio in the book is far more close than how they are portrayed in Franklin's film.
(I feel that way with almost every book Anaya has written...) Ultima's relationship with little Antonio is magical and full of love; she patiently taught him about life, nature, and relationships while she lived with him and his family.He tells of his schooldays, skipping a grade, his catechism lessons at church and about being taunted by his friends who call him "the priest" because he learned the religious lessons taught by the priest who didn't always demonstrate love and understanding to some of his students; they even forced him to listen to them "confessing" their sins.Toward the end of the movie, his tearful request to be blessed by her before burying some of her personal objects brought tears to my eyes, as well.Bless Me,Ultima is very true to the novel, so it's easy to "lose yourself" in the story.
Although an entertaining coming of age film, it failed to address, arguably, the most important theme in the book, Antonio's struggle to find his identity.
Franklin did a great job at illustrating this by using many diegetic and non-diegetic nature sounds along with scene-opening long shots to show the natural surroundings.
Franklin's use of Diegetic Sound and Extreme Long Shots really allowed the setting to stand out visually, audibly and perhaps emotionally.
More so when Ultima and Antonio pick out herbs there are multiple Extreme or Normal Long Shots so the audience can get a great glimpse of the "llano".
Bless Me, Ultima, directed by Carl Franklin, a film based on the book by the same name, written by Rudolfo Anaya, is a touching, emotional, and thought provoking film about a boy's journey to understand the people and the world around him.
The film does a very good job recreating the magical feel the book gives you.
For example, when Antonio and his father, Gabriel, walk outside to confront Tenorio, the film's antagonist, Franklin utilizes a P.O.V. tracking shot to make the audience feel like they're with Antonio and Gabriel as they confront Tenorio.
In Carl Franklin's depiction of Rudolfo Anaya's critically acclaimed novel Bless Me, Ultima, Franklin uses some techniques to convey the theme of nature.
Although Franklin effectively uses a lot of techniques in the film, it is very overwhelming and distracts the audience from the story.
Franklin's film follows a young boy Antonio and his journey through childhood, he is split between understanding what to believe.
Franklin chose to give the focus to Antonio and his connection to Ultima and nature.
Franklin lets the audience feel the guidance of Ultima over Antonio throughout the movie thoroughly.
Using techniques like the diegetic sound and foreground shots made the feeling of nature overwhelming in important scenes.
Bless Me, Ultima is based off of coming of age novel by Rudolfo Anaya.
So adding the bad acting and empty still shots of Antonio's reaction, the audience don't get the growth and changes of Antonio, but a feel of just a spectator watching a "set-up" scene.Another problem with the movie is cramming.
If I have not read the book, I wouldn't even thought that Antonio's self-struggle was that important theme because I would be distracted by another scenes of Tenorio threatening Ultima.
In summary, Bless Me, Ultima is a beautifully shot movie that is more like a visual cliff note of the book.
Carl Franklin uses the sounds of nature as well as changes in the soundtrack to emphasize the theme of the film, the connection between the characters and Earth.
Franklin's use of long shots also portray those connections stronger, like when Tenorio had murdered Narciso and left him under the juniper tree in the rain.
The music ties in with that effect, where an uplifting soundtrack that is original to the culture of the characters plays when hope is in sight, and the soundtrack is drowned out by diegetic sounds used like when Antonio follows Narciso in his struggle to warn Ultima.
After reading the novel by Rudolfo Anaya, I watched the movie and the first thing i noticed was Franklin's use of added music on the soundtrack.
Franklin commonly showed the landscapes of the New Mexico filming location by using extreme long shots and tracking shots with the sounds to really make the nature come alive as it does in the story with Ultima.
Franklin did a good job showing the power held by the moon and sun in the story by placing images of them in fade in/out transitions during important interactions between characters.
The main conflict in the book is Antonio's inner struggle but unfortunately the movie misses a few key features that causes this theme to get left out.
In the book this causes Antonio to question the world and himself but in the movie is reaction and thoughts are glossed over.
Movies can't do everything the book does and overall I think the Franklin and his team did a good job apart from subpar acting and missing a few themes.
I thought that Franklin's use of long shots and diegetic sounds really emphasized the connection that the characters had with nature.
The sound of the rain also seemed to drown out the dialogue between Antonio and Narciso as he asks for confession before he dies which was a major realization for Antonio in his debate on whether or not to be a priest.Overall I found that the film seemed more like a vague summary of the book rather than the actual story.
While I understand that it is hard to put a whole book into a movie, I feel as though Franklin missed the major theme of the book.
I really liked Franklin's use of extreme long shots through out the film.Franklin frequently used extreme long shots when Antonio and Ultima were interacting with nature.The nature aspect of the book and film are extremely important and I think by using extreme long shots, nature in the movie really stands out.
If Franklin had chosen not to use the extreme long shots, the importance of nature would have not stood out as much, making it's role in the film not as effective.
At times though I feel like the diegetic sound was a bit too much, more specifically in the scene where Narciso is murdered by Tenorio.
We all know that a film can't possibly include everything from the book, but I feel like Franklin left out too much.
In the movie Bless Me Ultima, Carl Franklin does a great job using extreme long shots and diegetic sound.
During the harvest and when Antonio spends time with Ultima on the llano, Franklin uses extreme long shots.
By filming these scenes like this the viewer sees all the nature around them.
I think hearing Narciso confess himself to Antonio would have enhanced the movie and made it more similar to the book.
Overall I think Franklin did a good job portraying the connection between man and nature but he could have done a better job with Antonio's internal struggle..
Antonio tells the story of him growing up in New Mexico under the watchful eye of Ultima, a curandera or healer.
The main part of the film shows the relationship between Ultima and Antonio. |
tt1866249 | The Sessions | In Berkeley, California in 1988, Mark O'Brien is a poet who is forced to live in an iron lung due to complications from polio. Due to his condition, he has never had sex. After unsuccessfully proposing to his caretaker Amanda, and sensing he may be near death, he decides he wants to lose his virginity. After consulting his priest, Father Brendan, he gets in touch with Cheryl Cohen-Greene, a professional sex surrogate. She tells him they will have no more than six sessions together. They begin their sessions, but soon it is clear that they are developing romantic feelings for each other. Cheryl's husband, who loves her deeply, fights to suppress his jealousy, at first withholding a love poem that Mark has sent by mail to Cheryl, which she eventually finds. After several attempts, Mark and Cheryl are able to have mutually satisfying sex, but decide to cut the sessions short on account of their burgeoning feelings.
One day sometime later, the power goes out in the building in which Mark lives, causing the iron lung to stop functioning and making it necessary for Mark to be rushed to the hospital. However, he survives and meets a young woman named Susan Fernbach. The film then cuts to Mark's funeral, held sometime later, and attended by four of the women he came to know and care for, including Cheryl. Father Brendan gives the homily and Susan reads the poem he had previously sent Cheryl. | flashback, revenge, humor, dramatic, home movie | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0045822 | Give a Girl a Break | When the temperamental star of a new Broadway musical revue in rehearsals walks out, director and choreographer Ted Sturgis (Gower Champion) suggests casting an unknown for the role. When it is announced in the newspapers, throngs of hopefuls show up. They sing about their hopes in the song, "Give a Girl a Break." The revue's musical composer, Leo Belney (Kurt Kasznar), champions ballerina Joanna Moss, while gofer Bob Dowdy (Bob Fosse) is enchanted by novice Suzy Doolittle (Debbie Reynolds). Then producer Felix Jordan (Larry Keating) persuades Ted's former dance partner, Madelyn Corlane (Marge Champion), to come out of retirement to try out, much to Ted's great discomfort. Leo, Bob, and Ted sing about the challenges of re-writing the show for a new performer in "Nothing is Impossible."
Joanna goes home and tells her husband she has a good chance of getting the part. He has exciting news of his own. He has been offered a position as head of the English Department at a major University out of state. They argue and then make up. Suzy goes home to tell her mother she has a chance at the part. Her mother tells her she should spend the evening readying for the audition tomorrow. Bob shows up while she is practicing. She goes out with him. They sing and dance to "In Our United State." Ted visits Madelyn to let her know that if she wants the part she better show up and give a great audition. He begins "The challenge Dance." She matches him step for step. They are ready to fall into each other's arms when her date for the evening shows up.
Bob fantasizes about dancing with Suzy in a sequence using the songs "Give a Girl a Break" and "In Our United State." Leo fantasizes about conducting an orchestra while Joanna dances to the "Puppet Master Dance." Ted envisions himself dancing with Madelyn to "It Happens Ev'ry Time." Joanna, Suzy and Madelyn all perform well at the audition. Leo, Felix and Ted discuss who should get the part. Bob overhears them talking about Suzy in the role and assuming she has the part, he calls her and tells her she has the part.
Felix and Leo both want Joanna in the part. Ted prefers Madelyn but he concedes. Joanna accepts the part. Bob calls Suzy to tell her he was mistaken. Suzy is crushed. Ted goes in person to let Madelyn know.
Rehearsals are underway with Joanna. She isn't doing well and runs to her dressing room in tears. Her husband shows up ready to leave town for his new job. Joanna stops crying and happily announces she is pregnant and she is leaving with her husband. Felix, Leo and Ted discuss hiring Suzy for the part. Bob runs and calls her to let her know. She doesn't believe him but he convinces her. However, they have decided to offer the part to Madelyn. But when it becomes clear that Madelyn has left town and can't be reached, the job is offered to Suzy.
Opening night arrives. We see Ted and Suzy dance and sing to "Applause, Applause." The show, and Suzy, are a hit. Ted walks out into the empty theater after the show and sees Madelyn. He asks why she left. She tells him she wanted to find out if it was show business she missed or him. It was him. They run into each other's arms. | romantic | train | wikipedia | 'Give a Girl a Break' deserves to be better known; it's certainly not one of MGM's greatest musicals, but it has many bright spots and some pleasant tunes by Burton Lane with excellent lyrics by Ira Gershwin.
Modern viewers will probably be most interested in Bob Fosse's excellent performance, in a supporting role.Some aspects of this movie are clearly derived from earlier and better musicals.
At one point, Gower Champion's character (a Broadway director) is besieged by struggling chorus dancers who want parts in his new musical.
The fact that 'Give a Girl a Break' is directed by Stanley Donen (co-director of 'Singin' in the Rain') only makes the link more obvious.Gower Champion plays Ted Sturgis, the big-shot director of a new Broadway musical still in rehearsal.
Bob Fosse plays Bobby, his assistant and dance captain, although Sturgis usually keeps Bobby busy fetching coffee.
as did Fosse.) Kurt Kasznar plays Leo Belney, the show's musical director: a role that should have been played by Oscar Levant.
Sturgis's ex-wife (played by Gower Champion's real wife Marge) is Madelyn Corlane, a former star whose popularity has faded, but who is hopeful of a comeback.When Sturgis's leading lady throws a tantrum and walks out (not likely!), he needs a new leading lady in a hurry.
The more classically-minded Leo wants the leading role to go to Joanna Moss (Helen Wood), a ballet dancer he secretly hopes to romance.There's some genuine suspense as we try to guess which of these three women will get the big break.
Unfortunately, the three candidates aren't equal: it's extremely obvious that highbrow ballerina Joanna hasn't got a chance against the more conventional chorines Madelyn and Suzie.The best number in the movie is 'In Our United State' performed by Fosse and Reynolds.
I also enjoyed 'Nothing Is Impossible', performed by the three men, which features a strange bit in which Gower Champion does a rapid tap dance with one foot while he keeps his other foot balanced on top of Bob Fosse's upright heel.
The tubby actor Kurt Kasznar, who can't dance and can barely sing, shows some courage by performing a musical number with the athletic Champion and Fosse.There's a clever three-way dream sequence, in which each man envisions his own favoured lady's name appearing in lights above the theatre.
Corny!This is a good place to correct a misconception about Gower Champion: after a long career as a director of Broadway musicals, he supposedly died on the opening night of '42nd Street', his biggest hit.
('42nd Street' is about a Broadway director who risks his own health in rehearsals while trying to make his biggest show a hit.) The truth is a bit less neat: Gower Champion actually died several days before his show opened, but producer David Merrick (recognising the publicity value of Champion's death) claimed on opening night that Champion had died earlier that day.I'll rate 'Give a Girl a Break' 6 out of 10, and I recommend it to you..
Everyone is charming; Marge and Gower Champion are at their peak, Bob Fosse is just hitting his stride (amusing that his screen persona was so charmingly little-boyish, in contrast to the dark angular sexiness of his later stage choreographies), and Debbie Reynolds is pixie-ish as ever.
Helen Wood was not a great actress, but she was necessary to provide an additional dance flavor (see below).To differ from another reviewer, I think that Kurt Kaznar was perfect for the Leo Belney part, at least as it was written.
He carries off being totally suggestible, changing opinion instantly, and having an equal conviction in each new attitude.Though they don't make a big deal about it, the film was mirroring a real conundrum facing Broadway directors at that period: what kind of dance to use?
While Fosse often spoke of his limitations as a dancer, the reality is he was a brilliant one , and in his dance numbers here he already is exhibiting a unique and original style that is athletic, jazzy, sexy and charming .
The music in this movie is very good , and serves to show off the talents of its stars.
Robert Osborne pointed out afterwards the amusing anecdote about Mrs. Ira Gershwin saying to her husband after seeing the rushes of this film: "If you've got any MGM stock sell it!" He also said that MGM too had no faith in this movie and underdistributed it shamefully.
It's a brilliant and iconic and wonderful movie and needs to be talked about whenever the good old days of MGM musicals are discussed.
Imagine all those talented dancers, choreographers and directors all there together in one movie: The Champions, Fosse, Robbins, Donen, Burton Lane, Ira Gershwin, etc.
"Our united state,""house full of cute representatives" etc, etc: brother George would have been proud!) Helen Wood's brilliant dancing made we wonder whatever became of her.
This movie that originally was going to include Fred Astaire, Gene Kelley, Judy Garland and Ann Miller was left with some great dancers such as Gower/Marge Champion and Bob Fosse.Some people insist that this is a gem - this fanatic of great musicals (flicks that include great dancing, singing and acting), this is just an innocuous adventure of entertainment performed by talented dancers.The Gower/Marge Champion numbers seemed to be the recipient of more time and money with more well-thought out production values.
The Bob Fosse numbers seem surprisingly off-kilter that only suggests the great work that he will be doing in the future.One could attribute this to Gower's good fortune of dancing with a great dance partner that he can personally bond with.
(Note: Interesting seeing a "perky" choreographed dance numbers, especially considering the sharp/edgy/sexily-tinged/jazzy moves that Fosse give to the world).In addition, Stanley Donen didn't do Fosse any favors with the "backward" footage that looks "out-of-placed" and/or awkward - good ideas that didn't quite produce the desired effects.Note: Bob Fosse is not a singer - though he tries hard.
His best works can be found in much of his latter work and/or in films where he's dancing with Dan Dailey, Gene Kelley and many others.It's too bad that Bob Fosse and Gower Champion couldn't get along - hence denied the general public of what would be created with these immensely talented dancer/choreographers.
A dance showdown between Fred Astaire/Gene Kelley (seen in "The Great Ziegfield") and the team of Fosse/Champion would have been great to experience!!
Gower Champion/Marge Champion/Debbie Reynolds.fyi: George Chakiris (of "West Side Story" fame) can also be seen in the movie btw: MGM didn't even release this film in New York, that demonstrated their "faith" in this flick.
One can only imagine what would have resulted if this $2M film (a big amount for that time) had the originally intended cast of Gene Kelly, Fed Astaire, Judy Garland and Ann Miller - what can only have dream the magic from the Burton Lane/Ira Gershwin songs?!?!.
It was wonderful as always to see the Champions (I always had a crush on Marge) and Debbie Reynolds and Bob Fosse were good as always, but the film just didn't click with me, It is well worth watching at least once (you'll find it often on TCM) but I will never be able to rate it as a favorite..
While certainly not one of MGM's "classic" musicals, GIVE A GIRL A BREAK has its moments of fun and suspense.
The audition itself is quite strange in that each of the three girls just dances a couple of minutes and all three do a different number.
Aside from that, there are many moments of real entertainment, especially be two soon-to-be Broadway choreographers, Bob Fossee and Gower Champion.
Debbie Reynolds is in there doing her usual perky singing and dancing to good effect.
As compared to the product that was coming out of the Arthur Freed unit at MGM during this time, Give A Girl A Break is definitely in the rank of second rate MGM musicals.
Still it's not too bad with the accent definitely on the dance as opposed to the song.Give A Girl A Break is the title of a revue that producer Larry Keating is putting on and he's having one devil of a time trying to decide which talented dancer to give the lead to, be it Marge Champion, Debbie Reynolds or Helen Wood.
As good a dance team as they were, Marge and Gower were just not strong enough to carry a film on their own.This was a dancing film and as such no great song hits came out of the score that was written by Burton Lane and Ira Gershwin.
But the Champions, Debbie Reynolds, Bob Fosse, and Helen Wood could definitely dance to it.If the plot sounds somewhat familiar I think MGM dusted off the script to one of their biggest hits, Ziegfeld Girl about three Ziegfeld Follies aspirants and updated it somewhat.
It's also a much lighter treatment, none of the three dancers has anything happen as bad as what happened to Lana Turner in that film.Give A Girl A Break will never be one of the great MGM musicals on anyone's list, but it's a pleasant diversion.
The screen writers were some of MGM's best, who usually wrote big budget films.I wonder if the entire film, or most obviously, the dance number the Champions do with all the vertical poles were shot in 3D.
A good, not great, MGM musical, with the emphasis on dance.
The dances are so expert and entertaining, you may be able to forgive the drab quality of some of the rest of the film.The Champions were not really movie stars, and neither was Bob Fosse.
(Debbie Reynolds became a big one later, and you can see why.) Gower plays the director fairly well, but I kept picturing Gene Kelly.
Helen Wood is the third girl and while her acting is stiff, her dancing definitely isn't.The score by Burton Lane and Ira Gershwin contains no hits, but I was charmed by the tune, "In Our United State," performed by Fosse and Reynolds..
In my view, screen time should have featured her, with Marge and Gower, who are better dancers than actors, in support.
For such a great cast (Debbie Reynolds, Gower and Marge Champion and Bob Fosse) and being directed by Stanley Donen, 'Give a Girl a Break' could have been a classic.
Instead it was a modestly enjoyable film that could have been much better.Visually, although the budget apparently wasn't huge, 'Give a Girl a Break' still looks pleasing with handsome costumes and sumptuous use of colour.
The songs have garnered indifferent reactions, sure there are better songs in musicals but the songs here are pleasant and fun enough, especially for Ira Gershwin's (brother of George) very clever lyric writing.
"In Our United State" and "Nothing is Impossible" stand out.The best things about 'Give a Girl a Break' are the dance routines and the dancing.
The dancing of it is even better, with electrifying work from the Champions, Fosse and Helen Wood.Debbie Reynolds' performance is the most consistent in the cast, whereas everybody else were most successful in the dancing but less comfortable everywhere else Reynolds excelled in every aspect of her performance and gives her character spunk and perky charm.On the other hand, the story is incredibly lightweight and too often so uneventful that the film does drag at times outside of the musical numbers.
Leo Belney (Kurt Kasznar) wants his discovery Joanna Moss (Helen Ross) to get the role while Bob Dowdy (Bob Fosse) wants his amateur (Debbie Reynolds) to get the part.GIVE A GIRL A BREAK isn't going to be mistaken for a masterpiece but if you're a fan of the Musical genre then it's certainly worth watching and especially since you've got some famous faces before they were well-known.
This here was meant to be a showcase for the Champion team but the film ended up bombing and the two of them were pretty much done with the movies.
It seems MGM was wanting to show off what talent they had on hand without giving away any great moments or musical numbers..
Give a Girl a Break is a 1953 musical that uses the show-within-a-show convention to present some wonderful dancing.
The three actresses are Debbie Reynolds, Helen Wood and Marge Champion.
All three acquit themselves as actresses, but their dance talents are fantastic.The actors who play the lead roles in this film are adequate, but sometimes stiff, in their acting.
Perhaps because Bob Fosse and Gower Champion were picked more for their dancing.In any event, I say watch this movie for its dancing.
Gower Champion, Stanley Donen and Bob Fosse choreographed.
Although Fosse's idol was Astaire, you can definitely see similarities to Gene Kelly's dance style.
The rooftop dance is jazzy (highlighting the great music in this film), and might be seen to predate West Side Story.For me, the best part is the trio of dream sequences, each featuring one of the three actresses and her admirer.
The dance that features reverse motion might be gimmicky, but it's clever.The movie's end is anticlimactic, there are some awkward choices in staging, and other production aspects might have been sacrificed for quality dance numbers, but if you watch it just for the dance, it delivers.The plot is really about the sacrifices that dancers make for their craft.
How can you go wrong with the cute-but-sometimes-sexy Reynolds, the classy Marge Champion, Helen Wood (yowza!), smooth Gower Champion, and the dynamic Bob Fosse?.
nice 2nd rate MGM musical from the 50's, some good numbers.
One of Debbie Reynolds younger things and she is as always bright and energetic and good to watch - Marge & Gower Champion are excellent as always, and Bob Fosse is fun and silly as Debbie's (very young) beau.
Helen Wood was unknown to me but although can't act very well is a terrific dancer (if it wasn't a body double) in the Grahamesque style of the time (i.e. see "choreography" number in "White Christmas").
Much lesser effort than "Singing in the Rain" (but what isn't) but an enjoyable thing to watch sometime if you just enjoy the dance numbers and throw popcorn at the screen during some of the more inane or dated dialogue.
The considerable talents of Ira Gershwin and Stanley Donen showcase the considerable talents of Marge Champion, Debbie Reynolds, Bob Fosse and Gower Champion in a story making the final candidates to hastily replace the name star quitting mid rehearsal a classical ballerina, a faded former star performer and a scared novice with an overbearing mother, each the fantasy girl friend of someone having influence in determining the replacement casting.
This meld of extraordinary talents showcases the historic dilemma of which dance direction professional musicals should take in the changing times of the 1950's.
Dance-dominated musical with the Champions, Debbie, Fosse and Helen Woods..
After costarring in the now recognized classic musical "Singing in the Rain", cute, bubbly, Debbie Reynolds costarred in several more MGM musicals over the next few years, most of which, including this one, are little remembered, undeservedly so in most cases.
The prior film starred the versatile Don O'Connor who was the supporting male actor to Gene Kelly in "Singing in the Rain".
The 3 girls are competing for a musical play lead role.
The song and dance team of Gower and Marge Champion is first billed.
However, Debbie and her admirer/sometimes dance partner: Bob Fosse, are featured as prominently, and Debbie, by default, wins the coveted lead role, with Gower.The film begins with the need to quickly find a replacement for the lead female in the musical "Give a Girl a Break".
We see snippets of various girls practicing, including the 3 finalists: played by Debbie, Marge and brunet Helen Woods, who strangely are seen doing exercises together at a gym.
Fosse starts a song and dance, which Debbie eventually joins in.
Gower then forces Marge(his ex-wife in the story)to dance with him on their rooftop("The Challenge") to help regain her confidence in competing for the part.Each of the 3 men then imagine an audition dance featuring their sponsored girl, with or without themselves included.
In the first, Fosse again dances with Debbie, in a scene with artificial snow(confetti?)falling the whole time and balloons to pop, although they are dressed in summer wear.
Helen Woods then does a solo ballet to "The Puppet Master", followed by a change into a nearly all black outfit, in which she does a slinky athletic dance, later joined by stout Kurt, who mostly offers support for some of her movements, with a feeble attempt to join in, at times(he was no dancer!).
Toward the end on this scene, Gower briefly dances with a series of other women, including Debbie and Helen, but ends up again with Marge, signifying that he still favors her as the best of the bunch.The men still can't agree who is the best of the 3.
This time, she dances with Gower, rather than Fosse, in the big production finale to "Applause, Applause", which has a circus background theme, as the two mostly prance back and forth across the stage.
The basic story (of three candidates for the leading role in a Broadway musical) doesn't take a brain matter, but there is still a lot of imagination in that filler that it's hard not to like it.
In fact, I smiled vividly in watching this again (for the fifth time, last time about six years ago), especially in the opening title song, the balloon/confetti dance, and the elaborate finale, which uses the title of a future Broadway musical based upon "All About Eve".This is also a very historical movie and must for dance students because it features dancing together for the only time on screen future legendary Broadway directors/choreographers Gower Champion and Bob Fosse.
As Gower's wife Marge Champion is one of the three girls, it is sort of sad that Fosse's dancer wife Gwen Verdon wasn't.
But Fosse doesn't skimp on his dance partner-he gets the wonderful Debbie Reynolds who you can't help but adore. |
tt0116191 | Emma | Inventor Frederick Smith's wife dies during the birth of their fourth baby, Ronnie, leaving the family in the care of their faithful housekeeper Emma. Twenty years later, after Smith's inventions have made the family rich, the affable Ronnie, who is Emma's favorite, arrives home from college, announcing that he wants to quit school and become a pilot. The other Smith children, Bill, Gypsy and Isabelle, have all grown into spoiled adults, but Emma lovingly indulges them all, making excuses for their bad behavior to their father and everyone else.
As Emma leaves for her first vacation in thirty-two years with the family, the absent-minded Frederick sadly takes her to the station. She gets cold feet and decides to stay home, but Frederick won't let her and decides to go along with her to Niagara Falls. Waiting for their train, Frederick proposes and Emma accepts, even though she is afraid that people will talk. When the children learn about the marriage, Ronnie is happy for them, but the other children are embarrassed by the blot on their social record. On their honeymoon, as the happy Frederick and Emma row on the lake, they are teased by some young vacationers, prompting Frederick to take the oars from Emma. The exertion causes a mild heart attack and they return home. As the contented Frederick listens to Emma sing to him, he dies, and a short time later, the family learns that he has left his entire estate to Emma.
Though Emma wants to give the money back to the children, all of them except Ronnie turn on her and threaten to prove that their father was crazy when he wrote the will. Emma throws them out and awaits the lawsuit they threaten while the loyal Ronnie goes to Canada for a flying assignment. Because the will cannot be broken, the children go to the district attorney to have him bring murder charges against Emma, using distorted testimony by Mathilda, the maid. When Ronnie hears about the trial, he desperately flies East to help Emma but is killed while flying through a dangerous storm.
Even though her life is in peril, she won't allow her kind attorney, Haskins, to defame the character or motives of the children. Her emotional plea for them in court results in her acquittal, but Emma's relief is ruined when she learns of Ronnie's death. A short time later, Emma gives all of the money to the children, telling Haskins that she hopes that now they will think better of her. After she sadly views Ronnie's body, Isabell, Bill and Gypsy beg her forgiveness and want her to stay with them, but she refuses, saying that her work with them is finished, but no matter what happens or where they all are, they will still belong to each other.
At a new position, Emma happily attends a doctor's large family and is pleased when the wife agrees to name her new baby Ronnie at Emma's request. | romantic, comedy, satire, entertaining | train | wikipedia | I was so impressed with Doug McGrath's film version of the Jane Austen novel "Emma," and I loved the music score by Rachel Portman so much, that when I went to the video store one day and discovered the two had re-united for "Nicholas Nickleby" I immediately rented it without any other consideration.I have read the book, and for those overly-critical fans of this Jane Austen adaptation, I don't know what else McGrath could have done to more perfectly capture the spirit and major plot elements of Miss Austen's work, especially given the limitations of a two hour movie (which some have complained about being too long!).
And as far as Gwen Paltrow's accent is concerned, I must confess I wasn't too familiar with her when I saw this at the theater initially, and I was absolutely convinced at the time that she was an English actress!I am taken aback by those who criticized the film for its lush scenery.
If your idea of escapist fare is something bleaker, then perhaps you should rent something like "Death Wish III!"The English country settings are as attractive and charming as the cast, and combine with the story and soundtrack for entertainment that makes you not tire of repeat viewings.
The story is often amusing, endearing, and at times, quite touching.I have seen many competent Jane Austen book adaptations but this is without question my favorite..
What a delightful film...Accompanied by Oscar-winning Composer RACHEL PORTMAN's lush, emotional and dreamy music, this film remains a pure delight worthy of viewing more than once a year.Incredible casting...Gwyneth Paltrow was perfect for the role of Emma.
It is a classic scene, one to be rewound and played over & over...The ending is right up there with "Sense & Sensibility" and provides one of life's greatest lessons about how one should marry one's best friend...I hope that this film delights you all as much as it has myself.I ADORED it!.
But if you're willing to view Emma with the belief that this movie is loosely based on the novel, and enjoy it on its own merits, you'll truly enjoy yourself.Emma (Gwyneth Paltrow) is the apple of her aged father's eye and spends her ample free time trying to play matchmaker.
She may have won her Oscar for Shakespeare but she should be remembered for this.Of course, she's surrounded by a great supporting cast including Toni Collette, Greta Scacchi, Juliette Stevenson et al...Jeremy Northam is very appealing as the love interest, even if the script wallows a bit in his declaration of love to Paltrow (in the process, allowing all of the tension to drain out of their relationship); several years on, Ewan's hair is a little easier to take than it was in '96 and, personally, I find puckish Alan Cumming a grating presence in anything nowadays.
Jane Austen would definitely approve of this one!Gwyneth Paltrow does an awesome job capturing the attitude of Emma.
With a beautiful setting, wonderful costumes, and an outstanding cast (have I mentioned the gorgeous Jeremy Northam?), Emma is a perfect ten!.
`Emma,' based on the novel by Jane Austen and written for the screen and directed by Douglas McGrath, stars the lovely Gwyneth Paltrow in the title role.
Jeremy Northam also acquits himself extremely well in the role of Knightley, and like Paltrow, seems suited to the genre-- in the right role, that is; his performance in the more recent `The Golden Bowl,' in which he played an Italian Prince, was less than satisfying.
Also excellent in supporting roles and worthy of mention are Toni Collette, as Emma's friend Harriet Smith; and Alan Cumming, as the Reverend Elton.
Emma (1996)I like Gwyneth Paltrow, and I love Jane Austen.
Good, but not brilliant.The cinematography is inventive, crossing at times the border to gimmickry, but it certainly avoids the trap of making this look like a boring TV soap in costumes, given that the entire story is dialogue-driven.The acting is competent.
Like I said, as a Jane Austen fan there were things I would have liked to have seen included that weren't but that would have made it much longer than permissible for a feature length film and as it was I felt they really encapsulated the story well.
<<<sigh>>> Sophie Thompson's turn as Ms Bates is virtuoso acting of the finest (oh, napkins, sorry!) and the rest of the cast is no disappointment either - Toni Colette brings a lot of Muriel to her Harriet, and Ewan McGregor is convincingly charming - and Alan Cumming and Juliet Stevenson are the perfect "impossible" couple!Of course the sets and costumes, and the beautiful soundtrack contribute a lot to the feelgood, almost Hobbiton-like atmosphere of the movie - although as far as cinematography and art decoration go, it's almost a case of visual overload.
Pity that the final proposal scene goes on for just a little too long - cut two shots (I can think of exactly which ones!) and it would have been much more in keeping with the rest of the movie.Gosh, I just realize (by reading the imdb listings) that I've seen Jeremy Northam in at least three movies without even being aware that it was him - seems he's got a lot more going for him, as an actor, than just being a gentlemanlike English heartthrob!
My favorite Jane Austen adaptation so far - though perhaps Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility is, strictly speaking, the better movie, this one is closest to my heart - and I've certainly seen it many more times!
There are many problems with the film, already mentioned in a few reviews; simply put it is a hammed-up, over-acted, chintzy mess from opening credits to butchered ending.While many characters are mis-cast and neither Ewan McGregor nor Toni Collette puts in a performance that is worthy of them, the worst by far is Paltrow.
As for the cast: Gwyneth Paltrow makes a rather shallow heroine (but then any 'hot' American star would be questionable in the role), Toni Collette is miscast, and poor Ewan McGregor is made to look laughable!I really could not say a good thing about this film.
I honestly had somewhat high expectations when I first began to watch this movie, but it turned out to be probably one of the most boring films I have ever seen!First of all, the pace is incredibly slow, so it seems much longer than it is (and it's not short).I'm sure when Jane Austen wrote the book, she made it several pages long, filled it with description, and didn't intend for people to read in in one day, or it might drag and lose it's appeal, which "Emma" most certainly did.
Jane Austen's novel, possibly her best, comes to the screen in yet another version, putting American Gwyneth Paltrow in the lead alongside Jeremy Northam as Mr Knightley.
Sophie Thompson gives a good and touching performance as the chattering Miss Bates, and Paltrow manages to keep a convincing English accent throughout.One curious thing is that in the scene where Emma and Knightley dance together has the same music as the dance in the 1990s BBC Pride and Prejudice between Elizabeth and Darcy.
there were so many little things wrong with this version of emma- miss paltrow's slouching form, toni collette's overly wide-eyed expressions of innocence, and did the actress who played miss bates have to be so squeaky and breathless?
granted the makeup, costumes, and lighting cannot compare to the hollywood edition of emma, but the dialogue is more true to jane austen's book and the actors' style, carriage, and demeanor are all more suitable for the time period.
How sweet.Gwyneth Paltrow shimmers in this title role, as young Miss Emma Woodhouse, who feels a need to be puppetmaster in her own petite township of England.
Miss Bates says everything three times and Mrs. Bates never hears it, and when Emma is disgracefully mean to poor Miss Bates it is the honorable Mr. Knightley, her brother-in-law, in a warm and observant performance by Jeremy Northam, who rakes her over the coals, giving her a hard-line lesson on her moral duties under the class system.
However, he has other intentions as well, and in due time Austen sees that everyone gets what they have coming, or for Emma maybe a bit more.The movie tapers the crevice between deftly manipulated social satire and soap opera, but it feeds on a spry intellect and a resilient comic tone.
I saw this movie being a Jane Austen addicted and always feeling doubtful about cinematographic rendering of the complexity of her novels: well, this transposition is simply accurate, intelligent, delicate, careful, tactful, respectful, intense, in a word, perfect!"Emma" is one of Austen's most delightful and funny novels, thanks to overall irony pervading situations and characters.
The cast is really talented and offer very good and extremely brilliant performances: a young Gwyneth Paltrow is particularly suitable for this role (nowadays she would be probably too mature for it), Toni Colette is simply great.
Since then I have become a very big Ewan McGregor fan but I still can't bring myself to forgive this movie's existence.My sister has always been a huge Jane Austen fan and because of that, I have been subjected to various of the classics, Emma being one of them.
Gwyneth Paltrow is OK and her English accent is pretty good but again, I preferred Kate Beckinsale's Emma.
There are excellent support performances from Toni Collette, Juliet Stephenson and Sophy Thompson.The script is often played too much for laughs, the book is a comedy, but there are too many set-piece gags here, and also the Frank Churchill subplot is almost completely absent.My biggest criticism is the scenery.
With so many screen versions of Emma knocking about I decided to give the sumptuous light hearted romp starring Gwyneth Paltrow with her cut glass English accent.Emma Woodhouse is a confident woman from a wealthy background who spends her days playing cupid by matchmaking.
Emma is well meaning but like everyone else is firmly rooted to the class system of the day.The film is rather light and airy, nice to look at, well acted but also rather boring.
After watching Gwyneth Paltrow in The Talented Mr. Ripley and Shakespeare in Love, I did expect the movie to be great.
I view this movie several times each year and never tire of the story and the wonderful chemistry between Paltrow and Northam....the two are a complete joy to watch.
Although i do not normally like Gwyneth Paltrow, I found that she fitted the part of Emma perfectly.And Mr Knightly, well that was the highlight of the movie as it was in the book.
Of course brilliant performances by Gwyneth Paltrow (one of the best actresses) and Jeremy Northam (the rest of crew are great also).
I would recommend Emma to anyone who enjoy Jane Austen's novels and like appealing romantic comedies..
I bought this movie not out of a burning desire to see an adaptation of Jane Austen on screen, but to aid me in my quest to understand 'Emma' which I had the 'pleasure' of studying as an exam text for my A-Levels.With the book, at first I despised it.
After all reading four-hundred pages of Austen can be a little bit tedious, and takes a considerable amount of time longer to do, than watching a ninety minute film like 'Emma'..
Playing a flawed but sympathetic character is not easy, but Gwyneth Paltrow brings it off beautifully, tempering Emma's faults with warmth, humor and charm, making her as likeable on screen as she was in print.
However, I was pleasantly surprised and found it much more enjoyable than the Kate Beckinsale version.Gwyneth did a decent job, although I must state that the script portrayed Emma as a terribly spoilt snob, and I rather disliked her in the film and couldn't understand why Mr Knightley would admire her so when really, she was just dreadful.
I certainly didn't care for Emma one bit and would have preferred it had the totally bland but sweet Harriet ended up with him instead.Mr Knightley was a far better character in the film; far less critical, more gentle and appealing, and not the stiff, critical bore I found him to be in the novel.
And the casting of Jeremy Northam was pure genius, for every girl knows that having a hunky romantic lead is essential in an Austen movie.This film was well made and did justice to the novel.
By the time Emma Thompson was attempting her Austen-esque witticisms as she received her screenplay adaptation Academy Award for Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen was already finished as a viable movie source.
Great turn by Gwyneth Paltrow in this Jane Austen adaptation.
The film runs a little longer than seems necessary, and gets off to a slow, fitful start (Douglas McGrath's screenplay is not the equal of the other Austen adaptations), but Paltrow keeps us interested until the story's inherent romantic magic begins to weave its spell.
Speaking of star-making turns, Emma is likely to open eyes to the talent of its leading lady, Gwyneth Paltrow who is rather good in the main lead.
In Jane Austin's EMMA, our protagonist Emma (Paltrow) is a 22-year-old keen matchmaker in rural 1800s England, especially when she successfully acts as a go-between between her governess Miss Taylor (Scacchi) and the middle-aged widower Mr. Weston (Cosmo), at their wedding, she is determined to find a proper suitor for her kind-hearted but diffident friend Harriet Smith (Collette), this time her aim is Mr. Elton (Cumming) from a rich family.
A period costume picture strikes directly at my soft spot, and the overall performance is suitably orchestrated, Paltrow previses her triumph in Shakespeare IN LOVE (1998, 7/10) here she liberates a force of dearness despite of Emma's inbuilt flaws, she is a young lass hobbled in her rustic vantage point, and a fetching soul awaits her prince charm to pay her dues; Northam would also reprise his good-hearted gentleman stature in AN INDEAL HUSBAND (1999, 8/10), a too-perfect and role model with impeachable moral integrity may fall into blandness, but he surely peps up the much-anticipated game-changer with his ear-friendly cadence.
a delightful feel good movie (by the way Mr Knightly (Jeremy Northam) is 6'2"..
The acting is superb, with Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma and Jeremy Northam as Mr. Knightly.
I am a great fan of English-style movies and was sure that casting a Hollywood actress in the title role would completely ruin the film.
A nice film with great scenery and top class acting.Gwyneth Paltrow was good in the title roll,but somehow she did not remind me of the girl described in Jane Austens book.Here in Australia the film was shown on commercial TV and as usual would have been ruined by 10 breaks for advertisements.Luckily I was able to watch it after taping..
Most of the talk about Gwyneth is about her oscar winning role in Shakespeare in Love but I believe Emma to be at a stand still with that movie they are very much equal in every aspect.
It's hard to do a movie adaptation of the work of ANY author of that time, especially while keeping the movie length under two hours.Paltrow has a near perfect English accent, and is a charming if silly Emma.
It is an entertaining movie with fine actors: Gwyneth Paltrow is better than in Shakespeare In Love, Jeremy Northam is convincing as a fine specimen of a gentleman of the English gentry, the always reliable Toni Collette, Juliet Stevenson and especially Sophie Thompson support convincingly.
Jeremy Northam, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Ewan McGregor have particularly memorable performances, though the parts they play seem unusual for them, especially for Paltrow.Romantic comedies, in my opinion, are often on a brainless level, so it is nice when a movie comes along that is both intelligent and romantic at the same time.
The casting is good.Gwyneth Paltrow, who is my all time favourite actress, gives an OK performance.
This was the first movie to introduce us to Gwyneth Paltrow's perfect English accent, but this adaptation of Austen's book is memorable for no other reason.The actors overall are by far too good looking for their parts, and the film deviats from the book in too many ways to make it very enjoyable to a true Austen fan.Overall, Paltrow is good, and the rest is passable, but if you want to see a good adaptation of this novel, watch the UK's ITV adaptation from 1997, starring Kate Beckinsale..
This first thing to say about Jane Austen's Emma is that to really have done it justice it should have been over six episodes like the great 1995 Pride and Prejudice!
Jane Austen fans were lucky to have the British doing some of her works with taste and style and this is one of the more enjoyable versions of an Austen novel.GWYNETH PALTROW (never a favorite of mine) is the headstrong Emma, a matchmaker at heart who plays Cupid for some of her best friends, with disastrous results and is mistaken about the intentions of every eligible male.
Emma is all that is good, all that is lovely in film-making.
Gwyneth Paltrow is a perfect amiable and pretty Emma, while Jeremy Northam is a real treat as Mr Knightley: full of charm and wit, and having a smile of his own, which is certain to gain the heart of female viewers :) Personally, I found this adaptation much more enjoyable (and less gloomy) than the Andrew Davies' version with Kate Beckinsale.
But "Emma" is quite good, Gwyneth Paltrow is an excellent actress in her role as the busybody matchmaker interfering in other people's lives and Jeremy Northam is perfectly suited to the role as the brother-in-law and sparring partner with whom, as the audience immediately understands, she will eventually realize she is in love.
I loved Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma and Jeremy Northam as Mr. Knightley was an excellent chose. |
tt0089488 | The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus | === Infancy, youth, and motivation ===
Santa Claus, as a baby, is found in the Forest of Burzee by Ak, the Master Woodsman of the World (a supreme immortal), and placed in the care of the lioness Shiegra; but thereupon adopted by the Wood Nymph, Necile.
Upon reaching young adulthood, Claus is introduced by Ak to human society, wherein he sees war, brutality, poverty, child neglect, and child abuse. Because he cannot reside in Burzee as an adult, he settles in the nearby Laughing Valley of Hohaho, where the immortals regularly assist him, and Necile gives him a little cat named Blinky.
=== Inventing toys ===
In the Laughing Valley, Claus becomes known for kindness toward children. On one occasion, his neighbors' son Weekum visits him; and Claus having made an image of Blinky to pass the time, presents him with the finished carving, calling it a "toy". Soon, the immortals begin assisting him in the production of other carvings: the Ryls coloring the toys with their infinite paint pots (the first toy was not colored). When he makes a clay figure reminiscent of Necile, he proclaims it a "dolly" to evade naming Necile to the children ("doll" results when children shorten the name). Claus presents the first one to Bessie Blithesome, a local noblewoman, after consulting with Necile and the Queen of the Fairies about whether he should give toys to wealthy children.
Later dolls resemble Bessie herself; and later still, counterfeit infant girls.
=== Reasons for certain traditions ===
The Awgwas, evil beings who can turn invisible, steal the toys that Claus is giving to the children, because the toys are preventing the children from misbehaving. This leads to Claus making his journeys by night and descending through chimneys when he is unable to enter the locked doors. The Awgwas nonetheless prevent so many of Claus's deliveries that Ak declares war upon them. With the aid of Asiatic Dragons, Three-Eyed Giants of Tatary, Goozzle-Goblins, and Black Demons from Patalonia, the Awgwas believe their might superior to that of the immortals; but they and their allies are destroyed. Claus is not present for any of the battle. When it is concluded, Ak tells him simply, "The Awgwas have perished".
=== Reindeer, gift exchanges, and Christmas ===
As his journeys continue, Claus is aided by two deer named Glossie and Flossie, who pull his sleigh full of toys. With their aid, he reaches the dominions of the Gnome King, who wants toys for his children, but trades a string of sleigh bells for each toy given by Claus. In restriction of the deer's service to a single day annually, their supervisor Wil Knook decides upon Christmas Eve, two weeks away from the hearing, believing this will mean a year without taking the reindeer from their homes; but the Fairies retrieve the toys the Awgwas stole and bring them to Claus, allowing Claus's first Christmas to proceed in spite of Wil.
=== Santa Claus ===
As Claus continues giving gifts, he earns the title "Santa" ("Saint" in most Romance languages).
=== Christmas trees and stockings ===
Claus sees stockings placed by the fire to dry are a good place for his surprises; but when he finds a family (sometimes taken to be Native Americans, or caricatures of the same) living in a tent with no fireplaces, he places the gifts on the branches of the trees just outside the tent.
=== Immortality ===
When Claus is in his 60s, the Immortals realize he is near the end of his life, and a council, headed by Ak (Master Woodsman of the World), Bo (Master Mariner of the World), and Kern (Master Husbandman of the World) gathers together the Gnome King, the Queen of the Water Spirits, the King of the Wind Demons, the King of the Ryls, the King of the Knooks, the King of the Sound Imps, the King of the Sleep Fays, the Fairy Queen, Queen Zurline of the Wood Nymphs, and the King of the Light Elves with the Princes Flash and Twilight, to decide the fate of Santa Claus. After much debate, he is granted immortality just as the Spirit of Death comes for him.
=== Deputies ===
At the end of the book, the immortal Santa Claus takes on four special deputies: Wisk the Fairy, Peter the Knook, Kilter the Pixie, and Nuter the Ryl. Baum's short follow-up, "A Kidnapped Santa Claus", further develops his relationship with his deputies, who must work in his place when Claus is captured by five Daemons. Later, children's parents and various toy-making companies take part in gift-giving, and Santa Claus withdraws to his valley. | flashback | train | wikipedia | I thought this was a beautiful and surreal stop motion animated film.
I thought it was beautifully done by the Rankin / Bass people- who brought us such classics as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, The Little Drummer Boy, Frosty the snow man, among many other holiday specials.
Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz. In fact, though neither movie tells you this, the immortal fairies in this story are the ones who enchanted The Land of Oz to begin with.
If you love beautifully done fantasies and stop motion animation I highly recommend this movie.
I read another review that called this film pagan and frightening- I think this person was looking for reasons to hate it and simply didn't understand the fantastical creatures portrayed.
Best Santa Clause movie ever.
For me this movie has special meaning because I used to watch it with my buddy when we were little.
This is a side of Christmas that is so refreshingly different, bearing absolutely no resemblance to any other Santa story ever written, capturing the Christmas spirit in its own way.This gets a full 10 from me for the stunning art-work of its creation and magical creativity that brought it to life.Go get it!
A little dark at times for very little ones, this stylish take on the Santa story will appeal to older children or little ones accustomed to fantasy and fairy tale themes.
Alive with Faerie folk of all kinds it offers a colorful journey through Santa's life.
Very moving in parts, this story gets to the heart of the Christmas spirit, without getting preachy or religious..
I've always loved the entire premiose of the story, and the characters are brilliant, especially the Commander of the Wind Daemons (The Bat like Creature) and Blinky the Cat..
Frank Baum's story, produced by Rankin Bass, we see how Santa came to be, from his origin an immortal to his dedication to bringing presents and happiness to kids around the globe.
It's a better story than the 'true meaning of Xmas' crud we're used to in Xmas Specials.
Erasing th 'birth of Baby Jesus' angle was also a wise move.I'd never heard of the novel until I saw this special, but it seems kinda similar to The Wizard of Oz. The music by Bernard Hoffer is also notably better than the usual medley of Xmas carols.
This particular telling of the Santa story is based on L.
Frank Baum book of the same title: "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus." The immortals are gathered by the Great Ak to decide whether or not the mortal Santa deserves the honor of becoming immortal (something the immortals can only grant once).
The story is narrated by Ak and recounts how he found the young babe and watched over him as he was raised by some of the nymphs and animals that fell under Ak's jurisdiction.As with any Rankin-Bass stop animation production the creature concepts can be wildly imaginative (and scary...
I am saddened that this particular version does not receive as much airing time, but I am very grateful that we always recorded Christmas specials when I was younger.I recommend this to anyone who enjoys Rankin-Bass holidays escapism and has an imagination that enjoys being stimulated..
CLAYMATION COUNCIL GATHERS TO DECIDE ON IMMORTALITY FOR SANTA CLAUS.
AWESOME CLAYMATION Christmas CLASSIC...a must have for the Christmas holidays .It is unfortunate that the networks no longer show this tale of how Santa Claus becomes the symbol of Christmas.
This tale has gods ,elves,fairies and Santa Claus .
If you like the Lord of the Rings ,Harry Potter and other Rankin and Bass classics , then this will be a welcome addition to your movie collection.I have seen this movie so many times and every time I see something new.
This is the final stop-motion special from Rankin/Bass.
Rankin/Bass had dipped their toe in this already with Rudolph & Frosty's Christmas In July several years before, as well as many traditionally animated cartoons based on The Lord of the Rings.
Frank Baum, the creator of Wizard of Oz.It's a fairly involved plot for a Christmas special.
A council of immortal beings must decide if Santa Claus should be given immortality.
From here, we get the origin of Santa, as told by the Great Ak. To say this is different from the origin of Santa previously released by Rankin/Bass would be an understatement.
This is pretty trippy stuff but also very fun.The stop-motion animation is beautiful, as you would expect from Rankin/Bass.
As with all Rankin-Bass specials, I of course recommend it.
But I would give a special recommendation for this one to people who are fans of fantasy stories but perhaps don't normally watch Rankin-Bass specials..
I've never heard the "raised by faerie folk" story of Santa before.
Best Christmas special yet!.
Somehow, most Christmas related movies and specials seem to be sendemental, campy or some times even sickening sweet.
But "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus" is a big relief from those Holiday special clichés.Think of putting together a typical Rankin Bass special, Mythology of the British Isles and Jim Henson's "The Dark Crystal" and you get this movie about a mortal named St. Nicholas and how he came to be.Some people seemed to complain about the film being too dark.
But face it, some things may tend to be *gasps* ARTISTIC, and *gasps* original and *gasps* not sappy or an un-artistic film just made to tell you to shell out your bucks on the crappy merchandise.If you catch this on TV or on any VCR format, or if you love "The Dark Crystal" or Mythological based films, you will love this special.
While this does contain many of the elements of a typical Rankin/Bass animated special, it is by far more bizarre than I could've ever imagined.
To give you an idea of how "out there" this show is, I missed only the first two minutes of the cartoon and I had NO IDEA that it was supposed to be a story about Santa Claus until the last two minutes of the show.
all that you wouldn't expect in a Christmas special.
And what's funny is whenever I try and describe this show to people, they don't believe me at all."No, seriously, the Great Ak then grabs this ax and challenges the demons to fight." "Whatever." "And Santa has this lion and he goes to the arctic with a magician and..." "You're full of it." "I'm not!
Watch it if you are extremely high or you are curious or a Rankin/Bass fan, like me.
Otherwise, your best bet would be to stick to the better Christmas specials..
As a child, this was my favorite Christmas movie.
I was enthralled by the characters and enjoyed the tale of how "Santa Claus" came to be.
Anyone who enjoyed The Wizard of Oz or fantasy stories such as The Hobbit would really enjoy this take on a classic Christmas character..
As a child of the 80s myself, this movie is easily my best Christmas memory.
The fantasy, the unexpectedly dark plot, beautiful imagery...all of these things make this one of the most memorable Christmas movies I could think of.For those of you looking for a classic movie full of love, warmth, cheer, and all of the other TYPICAL feelings associated with a Christmas movie...I would pass this one up.
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus throws in elements of suspense, fear, sadness, and eventually relief...not commonly associated with a Christmas flick.
Agreed, it IS a bit on the dark side for a holiday movie.
If you want something TRULY indescribable and unforgettable in your movie collection, I'd go for The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus..
Best Holiday Christmas movie.
During all my childhood I wasn't allowed to watch any kind of Holiday movies.
If I am to explain to my kids about Santa, this movie is the best for that.For most holiday movies I seen.This one is the best.
Not only it is full of beauty, colorful, well done for clay animation, the story and characters are great!
Great Holiday Movie......but....
It's rare that I would recommend a bad movie.Throw all your notions about what Christmas was all about, because on this ride, there is nothing but pure anti-fantasy.
OK, I could not stop looking at this while it was on, primarily because it is supposed to be a Christmas themed show....or so I thought.The weirdness compounds at an exponential rate while not really knowing what this was about.
The only reason I mention it is because, not knowing anything about it, looking at it from the perspective of someone who recognizes the "Rudolph" like animation, it takes you by surprise and leaves you saying "Huh?", "What the heck?", and "Oh My God!" so much, that it is actually entertaining.It makes me wonder if there is a Russ Meyer Christmas Special hidden in some garage..
This movie another Rankin Bass classic (In my mind) is for once a dark Rankin Bass film!
Although this is not very popular as say Rudolph, Frosty, The Year Without a Santa Claus, that doesn't mean it's any worse.
I'm sure you'll agree with me once you watch this wonderful masterpiece stop animation..
Another Christmas classic from Rankin' Bass.
I love Rankin' Bass Christmas specials and have done so since childhood.
I love Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Comin' To Town, The Little Drummer Boy and Nestor The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey, and while The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is not quite as good it still stands on its own as a Christmas classic.
The stop-motion is gorgeous to look at, the settings are some of the most beautiful and imaginative-looking I've seen and the characters move easily.
The story is imaginatively done and interesting, there are some dark moments(though nowhere near as nightmare-inducing as other films/shows/specials I've come across) but also some moving ones as well.
In conclusion, just as much as I do with other Rankin' Bass Christmas specials I love this.
Frank Baum(that, and the fact that it had "Santa Claus" in the title where the only reasons it got turned there.
I thought it would be like "The Wizard of Oz."), basically "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus" centers upon a bunch of immortal "faeries" and their powerful leader "The Great Ak" (the Christ-like figure in this Godless story) who sit around discussing whether or not Santa Claus, a mere mortal, should be visited by death after he finished his last sleigh ride for the year...
Who wants to think about Santa Claus dying?
He is black and looks like a mixture between a bat and what I would imagine satan to look like, and when "Great Ak" tells him what might happen to Santa Claus, he raises his claws and hisses.
What's the point of having creepy images like that in something about Santa Claus?
I suppose that might have been done to keep this film from being a run-of-the-mill Christmas special...which it is not, but didn't they realize that kids mind find the story scary?If they don't think it is scary, they might find it dull.
If I didn't get the sudden change, I doubt a five-year-old would...Even though it's creepy and a little dull, I suppose the moral to the story is that the immortals want to help Santa Claus by allowing him to be immortal, and then Death wouldn't have to visit him.
what a thought, and what a weird, bizarre, disturbing excuse for a Christmas special..
This is a very interesting view on Santa Claus.
It would be nice to take the Spirit of Christmas, Saint Nicholas, and the magical world that evolved into Santa Clause and the chain of children's shows and combine them.
This movie is a wonderful break from typical simplistic Christmas shows and hopefully lead the way to a show where parents can again piece the truth entailed in a story.
The best ornament I have for Christmas is a ceramic table piece of Santa kneeling before baby Jesus while in the cradle.
This story actually came from the scribe of the novel version of the Wizard of Oz, and has Santa...who was known then just as Claus, raised by immortal fairy folk, lead by the Great Ak, who looks like Odin of Norse Mythology and has a silver axe that shoots lasers, and cared for by a mountain lion...yeah you just read that right.
The story follows Santa from his adoption into the fairy folks world to his last days as a mortal, where is invents toys...
and he needed to defend himself from the evil Agwas, a band of weird demons who hate children and toys, even though Claus invented them only like 30 years prior.
It is like I said a unique take on the story, and one that has to be watched at least once.
but this must be great to watch high, but it is still one of those Christmas Classics a lot of people enjoy watching..
I think this was one of the last of the Christmas Classics they made.
Basically, Santa is raised by wood elves and wild animals, fights off an ogre army, then has to go to trial for the mantle of immortality so he can continue delivering his gifts.
There are many deaths in this children's cartoon, but do not despair, Santa wins in the end.Highly recommended for: the Great Ak and his clan most deaths in a Rankin/Bass Christmas special Highly Recommended!.
My Favorite Christmas Movie.
I grew up watching this movie every year at Christmas time and continue to look forward to seeing it every year.
This movie has a beautifully done story that shows how "Claus" goes from being a child to a Saint.
There is no actual killing in the war, the "bad guys" are simply turned into flowers through very gentle means, and the remaining ones flee.This is in response to Goon-2's comment on this movie: The bat-like creature, who sits at the table with the other immortals, symbolizes the wind, he is NOT death.
At the very beginning of the movie (with the credits) all of the immortals (each representing a different natural force) are introduced and he is the commander of the wind demons.
I just want to make sure people know he is not representing death, and is interested in saving Claus not killing him.Overall it is an uplifting tale of doing what you can to make the world a better place, and finding creative ways to do so when there are problems..
Rankin/Bass did a great job and they always have very special characters in all of their specials.
The musical score is pretty good and there's a moral in this very dark tale of Santa Claus.
Like Peter Nook and those other immortals that the Great AK talk to during their story of Santa Claus.
It's a bad shame that this special does not air regularly like most of the other Rankin Bass specials.
A very underrated Christmas special and it's such a treasure.
I've always been a fan of Rankin Bass, I grew up watching Rudolph, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town The Year Without a Santa Claus, Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas In July and also their underrated specials like Nestor the Long Eared Christmas Donkey, The First Christmas Snow, Pinocchio's Christmas and Little Drummer Boy and The Little Drummer Boy Book IIThe Life and Adventures Of Santa Claus is a very underrated and overlooked gem to the Rankin Bass fan base.
When this did air on ABC family it was heavily edited and not watchableThe story begins with the great Ak with a council with immortals explaining why Santa deserves the mantel of immortality and not die.
He begins his tale of the life of Santa Claus by explaining how he discovered Claus as a newborn infant abandoned at the edge of the enchanted forest.
Claus grows up in the forest and as a young adult Ak takes him on a journey to show him what humans are like, after witnessing dark scenes like poverty, child abuse, war and hunger Claus decides to live in a village not far and help children.
His talent in bringing joy to children makes him want to travel the world and deliver toys to all children thus becoming Santa.Some evil villains called the Awguas cause trouble for Claus and steal his toys, but his immortal friends get the toys back by destroying the Awguas and their dragon.
After an awesome battle with a dragon between good and evil, the immortals win and Claus gets to finish his journey on delivering toys,As Santa gets older he decides to deliver the presents on Christmas Eve, hence why Claus makes his trip once a year.
As Ak finishes his story, the council agrees to bestow the mantel of immortality for Claus.
Claus gets to be immortal and becomes Santa Claus who continues to deliver gifts to this day.This special again Is very much a part of my childhood and I love it, It's a lot different than the book such as a character called Tingler but it's a nice story about Santa Claus.
Great special10/10 stars.
**DEFINITE SPOILERS AHEAD**This is the story of the youth of the lad who became Santa Claus and how he was adopted by the faerie folk of an unspecified woods and eventually earned the right to be the immortal friend of all children in a suffering world.The story has moments of elegant insight.
Like the better Rankin/Bass specials and the better stories in general, this tale does not shirk from the realities of human pettiness and suffering.But the story is ruined by moments of needless ugliness.
Because of this, despite its wonderful beginning, I consider this and "The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold" to be two of the worst Rankin/Bass specials ever made. |
tt0083951 | The Flight of Dragons | In an age of medieval fantasy populated by fantastic creatures, the Green Wizard Carolinus, who presides over nature, notices that magic is fading from the world as humanity embraces logic and science instead. Summoning his three magical brothers, he proposes combining their powers to create a "last realm of magic" hidden from the rest of the world. The Blue Wizard Solarius, who commands the heavens and seas, and the Yellow Wizard Lo Tae Zhao, whose realm is light and air, agree to the proposal. However, the Red Wizard Ommadon, master of black magic and the forces of evil, resolves instead to infect mankind with fear and greed, causing humans to use their science to destroy themselves.
Since the wizards are forbidden to fight among themselves, Carolinus proposes sending a group of heroes on a quest to steal Ommadon's crown, which is the source of his power. The party includes the knight Sir Orrin Neville-Smythe and Carolinus' young dragon companion Gorbash. Solarius gives them an enchanted shield which can deflect dark magic, and Lo Tae Zhao contributes a magic flute which lulls dragons to sleep. Requiring a leader, Carolinus consults the magical force of Antiquity, which directs him to look 1,000 years into the future to find a man of science descended from a legendary hero. In late 20th century Boston Carolinus locates Peter Dickinson, a former scientist turned board game designer who is obsessed with dragons. Carolinus brings Peter back through time and enlists him in the quest, and Peter becomes enamored of Carolinus' ward, Princess Melisande. Ommadon sends his dragon Bryagh to capture Peter, and an accident with one of Carolinus' spells while rescuing him causes Peter to merge with Gorbash, Peter's mind taking over the dragon's body.
Knowing nothing about being a dragon, Peter is mentored by Carolinus' elder dragon companion, Smrgol. The dichotomy of magic and science is explored when Smrgol teaches Peter how dragons fly and breathe fire, abilities which Peter is able to explain with scientific principles. As the quest progresses, the heroes survive an attack by the monstrous Sand Murks and are joined by the talking wolf Aragh, the archer Danielle, and the elf Giles. As the party nears Ommadon's realm, Danielle and Sir Orrin are captured by an ogre. Peter is nearly killed attempting to rescue them but is saved by Smrgol, who defeats the ogre at the cost of his own life. In the Red Wizard's realm the party faces the Worm of Sligoff, which Peter destroys by igniting the sulfuric acid it excretes. Ommadon casts a spell to induce hopelessness in the group, which Peter repels using Solarius' shield. Ommadon next sends numerous dragons to kill the heroes, but Giles plays Lo Tae Zhao's enchanted flute, lulling them and Peter to sleep. Bryagh remains awake and kills Giles, Aragh, and Danielle. Sir Orrin slays Bryagh, but dies from his wounds.
When Ommadon appears on the battlefield, Peter manages to separate himself from Gorbash by recalling the principle of impenetrability. He is able to defeat Ommadon by countering the wizard's declarations of magic with explanations of science and logic, and denying the existence of magic. This destroys Ommadon, restores the other heroes to life, and allows the magical realm to take shape. Peter, having denied all magic, is separated forever from this realm, but not before awakening Melisande with a kiss and leaving her Ommadon's crown. Having fallen in love with Peter, Melisande begs Carolinus to allow her to join him. Back in 20th century Boston, Peter is selling the magic flute and shield to a pawnbroker when Melisande enters the shop carrying the crown, and the two embrace. | good versus evil, cult, fantasy, magical realism | train | wikipedia | What I got was a most profound experience.A land ruled by magic is brought to a perilous crossroads, and an evil wizard (voiced magnificently by James Earl Jones) seeks to bring about war and chaos.
The good wizard Carolinus (voiced by Harry Morgan) seeks help and finds a most unusual ally...a young fantasy game designer in 20th century North America.The diologue is intelligent, the action is well-paced, the plot is believable, and the ending will touch your heart.
That and the fact that you don't normally hear Larry Storch, Henry Morgan, John Ritter and Victor Buono doing voices for animated films..
I liked it, but as with many other obsessions of mine, I didn't grow to love this movie until years later.
I've seen quite only quite a few fantasy movies and only one involving a dragon.
This is a deep, mature animated movie, and the characters are well developed.
This is an excellent animated movie that is mature enough for adults, yet kids of all ages can enjoy it.
If you're into the mystical, fantasy escapism in films and if you love dragons and wizards then this is a definite must see.
I'm a complete dragon lover now and love nothing more than watching a film that drops you into a fantasy pool through narrative and colour.
Exciting animated fantasy movie.
Flight of dragons is perhaps one of the most unique animated pictures produced.
Kids will enjoy watching the dragons and creatures of fantasy while the adults will appreciate the deep story and philosophy portrayed in this film.
This is a great animated fantasy good for just about everyone.
Like a lot of people, I first saw this movie when I was about 5 and couldn't stop watching it.
A knight named Sir Orin Neville Smythe, Arak the wolf, Danielle of the woodlands, Smrgol the old dragon, Giles the Elf and soon its Lord of the Rings all over again.
The action and story is fantastic with the quest involving Sand Mirks (Horrid little creatures who attack by the million!) Giant Worms, More dragons and the ultimate Ogre of Gormley Keep.
It isn't often an adult will sit through a children's' film and enjoy what they see but I did.I still searched online for a DVD format so I could make a purchase but no dice.
An animated science-fiction movie that the whole family can probably enjoy.
Wizards, dragons, and ogres are just a few of the many creatures you can find in this movie.
Good story and characters team up with good animation to bring an excellent tale of a group of heroes joining forces to fight off an evil sorcerer in the world of magic.
John Ritter excels as the voice of Peter Dickenson, the modern day scientist who is transformed into a dragon and forced to go along on the journey.
A fantastic fantasy cartoon, as good as the book if not better, amazingly animated and voiced perfectly the film is entertaining and enchanting, the story has a Tolkien feel to it and very entertaining it is too I would recommend it to anyone who has ever had an imagination.It's a great story of dragons and magic and good versus evil!.
Beagle's The Last Unicorn then you will LOVE this movie.Spoiler!The basic plot is that this guy is transported to a land of magic.
It has a love story, and a brilliant ending which explains why there are no dragons or magic today...If anyone knows of a DVD copy please contact me!Nightingale_san.
Then a year later my Japanese friends brought over Flight of Dragons and they told me it was better than Princess Mononoke.
Crisp and clean animation flow through Flight of Dragons like a winding mountain river.
Jones has been in many great films but his voice sounded too much like Darth Vader and it was almost as though he was trying to show off which should not be done in an animated film.
This will remain my favorite animated movie of all time so I only have one thing to say- Miyazaki, look out because Jules Bass is headed for the silver screen!!.
I watched this film over and over again when I was a kid on and just watched it now maybe 20 years since I last saw it.
All sounds a bit profound I know but I think the value in this movie is really found when you watch it as an adult having seen it first when you were a child.
This animated film is a great story that I will never forget since I first saw it.
That means (bored yet?) that if you enjoyed it as a kid, it's nothing compared with the impressions that make on you when you're a grown-up.It's really an unique film combining fantasy, romance, adventure, and a great animation.
Also, it has a quite original script that you can't find in any Disney-like movie ( yet, I love Disney).
The characters present a duality (except for Omadon, who is, after all, an allegory of Evil itself) hard to see in cartoons, the dragons are the most beautiful creatures ever, the backgrounds are a piece of art by themselves, and the music is much more than a simply o.s.t. composed to follow the rhythm of the scenes.
I remember watching this film as a small child and being glued to the TV set each of the numerous times.
The story is wonderful, the characters are memorable, and now, twenty years later, I still find myself searching for the right keys to play the opening theme whenever I'm sitting by a piano.
Fun for children and adults of all ages, The Flight Of Dragons keeps you entertained without having a childish feel about it as many animated films do.
There's a great story with action sequences that are not overdone or take away from the plot, as well as a believable sense of fantasy, leaving the viewer hoping that such a world could possibly exist.
If you haven't seen it, get your copy right now and be among the many viewers who's lives have been touched by such an amazing animated classic..
I think I fell in love with the film because when I first watched it because I enjoyed the bittersweet ideas about magic and science.
The book it was based on was not a story but an essay with great artwork all about how dragons would have flown and lived, just like the book in the film.
Plenty of time for children to enjoy the various side trips, such as Smrgal teaching Gorbash how to make dragon fire, or the two dragons getting drunk in the cellar of an inn and singing "Oh Susannah." The many scene breaks look like the movie was designed for commercial interruptions, a la television.This is a niche film.
Also, much of the conversation has double entendre or a level of humour that will go right by younger children, as when Gorbash asks Smrgal if he would really eat dwarfs and Smrgal replies, "Oh no, they are all hairy and tough, not worth picking out of your teeth." My wife decidedly doesn't like this movie but I find it interesting enough in a curious way.
If you think this is a cartoon for kids, then your in for a surprise, its every part the adults fighting fantasy that every dungeons and dragons epic was.
I'm glad to say this timeless "flight of dragons" brings back animation and "art" to the level deserving of mass viewing.As with all stories, it must be believable and amazing at the same time, without being predictable.
But Flight of Dragons has lasted 30 years strong, and now my children watch it and everyone I introduced this animation to has passed it on too.
And no matter how many times I watch it, I am always captivated by the swooping musical score and the sincerity of the way Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr want to transport you to their love of the books they have an obvious fanaticism to.
So, if you've been looking for this film on DVD, just go to Amazon and search for "the flight of dragons DVD", and buy it directly from Amazon (not from the marketplace).
The story was really amazing, the animation ahead of it's time, and the actors who provided the voices for the characters were outstanding.
A lot of us would buy and share it with a new generation, and so the Flight of Dragons story would live on....
Overall, the animation is classic in appearance, and the story is fresh, so this film is a highly good watch..
If you love dragons and wizards etc you'll like it.
A classic fantasy tale with dragons, wizards, magic and so on with James Earl Jones voicing the milicicious Oamadon with his booming voice, brilliant!.
The animation is its weak spot, but unless you are sensitive to that technical aspect, you will be absorbed in the well told story and the great characters.
The animation is quite different than Disney or Manga films but remains beautiful and full of style.
Deep inside I believe this movie has influenced a lot Peter Jackson lord of the rings filming.
In my opinion this is the best Dragons movies ever made, one of the best animated movies and one of the best fantasy movies also ever made.
If you are extremely looking for a lovely story, with musicals like a Disney movie type don't approach it, this is not your movie.
If you like fantasy, epic battles, dragons, quests, hobbits, dwarfs, magic, sci-fic ...
This movie is a lord of the ring//willow//never ending story// dragon slayer ...etc.
Concerned about the prospects of logic and magic existing side-by-side in harmony, a Medieval wizard summons the help of a twentieth century board gamer inventor who believes in dragons in this popular animated feature film.
The vast majority of the film though channels the adventure tale, which is significantly less interesting, especially as the characters keep droning on about science versus magic.
headache...',but when I saw this one, all I can say it is just beautiful, a story is great, so interesting and intelligent,and music is enchanting like the magic.
The story (about magic striving to survive in a world where science is increasingly able to do without it) is one that most people would be familiar with.
The animation looks generally lovely, a little flat in places, but that is the only criticism I have of this movie.
The voice talents were great, especially John Ritter and James Earl Jones(outstanding as Oamadon), the script is intelligent-Oamadon's big speech in the meeting between the four brothers is genuinely chilling- and the story is enchanting and surprisingly mature.
Please bring this movie back, because I was enchanted as a child, and this along with Last Unicorn has so much magic to make it memorable.
The choice of voice overs are definitely inspired, with gems from Victor Buono, Harry Morgan,John Ritter and the fabulous James Earl Jones.The animation is quite distinctly Japanese and very enchanting.It makes me think of all the great fantasy authors who write about true naming and knowing, whose stories reach us somewhere deep like Le Guin and L'Engle.
Why can't they animate movies like this anymore?
But you let them watch one 80's movie with the 80's style animation and they'll never want anything else.
I think the reason it might not have been re released yet is because the movie while using the science from Peter Dickenson's book takes most of the characters from George and yet George does not get any credit on the film.My theory is that due to him neither getting money nor credit for this work George does not want it re released until he has been fairly compensated for what is obviously his work.
I have read both books and in Flight of the Dragons I at no point notice the mention of a talking wolf nor a wizard named Carolinus.
My late fiancée introduced me to this movie shortly after we met, and until then I had never heard of it.It took me until halfway through the movie to adjust to the animation style, compared to the other animated movies I had seen, which had mostly been Disney animated, however it is on my list of regularly watched movies now.The story is heartwarming, a true fantasy tale of someone who has to choose between his two loves in life, with epic battles and dragons, trolls, and evil wizards trying to destroy the world.Nothing makes a better movie, I only wish film makers nowadays could get it right.
For years I could never remember what the name of this movie was, all I knew was the basic plot summary and that I loved it SO much!
Although I was not born when 'The Flight of Dragons' was first released, I saw it in the late eighties at the tender age of four - it opened my mind to things which I could only dream about.
The animation was superb, the characters magnificent and brave, and the plot beyond believe (but in a good way).
watch The Flight of Dragons!.
As far as movies good for children go, Flight of Dragons takes the cake.
As for wholesome goodness in children's movies, the Flight of Dragons is insuperable.
I'm a adult and still love the power and genuineness of the story that is The Flight of Dragons.
I remember watching it when I was a kid and I loved it.
Its a fun, fully developed fantasy story with the awesome detailed animation seen in other Rankin Bass animated films such as The Hobbit and The Last Unicorn.
The plot involves a young man from our world who enters a magical realm and after temporarily turning into a dragon embarks on a quest along with a few heroic companions to confront the evil Lord Ommadon (James Earl Jones at his deepest and most menacing) who threatens the kingdom with his control over the dragons.
(me & my friends like this one)The movie was done excellently for its time.
I first watched this film with my (then) young children who were enthralled by this tale of good and bad, fiction and fantasy.
Supported by their respective dragons they interact with human characters, sent into the animation, who become embroiled in this magical tale.I was overjoyed to watch it again recently on TV, and found it to be just as good as I'd remembered it.
The story telling of this film is very clear, and obviously intended for kids with a great imagination.
I remember watching it when I was young, it is a truly emotional story with some great characters.I haven't seen it in years but it has stayed with me and deserves at leat 8/10 from me just for that.
A wonderful explanation of dragons, and the confrontation of magic/fantasy and science/logic.
But I think you have to be a fantasy/dragon lover to really enjoy it on all levels..
Not necessarily for kids, more mature than many live action movies I've seen....
The story is about the inherent conflict between logic/technology and magic/nature, a theme often addressed in anime (Princess Mononoke, Blue Seed).
The analysis is used to good effect in much of the dialogue of the film's bookish and bespectacled hero, Peter Dickenson-with-an-E, who inadvertently annoys the people of the Land of Magic (including several dragons) with cheerful comments such as "this is exactly how a 747 does it!" It's a little melancholy at the end, but great fun otherwise..
The animation is excellent, though the actual flight of dragons looks more like dragon-shaped balloons, but one of the characters has a tic in his eye, consistent throughout the film.
I'm yet another of the "seen this when I was a kid", around the same time that Fox's animated "Dungeons & Dragons" was on TV.
The animation is superb as is the vocal talent on offer: James Earl (Darth Vader) Jones as the evil sorcerer and Harry (MASH) Morgan as the good wizard.
as a child i saw this movie and loved it.
I only watched "Flight of Dragons" already being in adult.
And indeed, in the same year as "The Last Unicorn" "Flight of Dragons" was produced.
"Flight of Dragons" fascinated me from the beginning, just by having a wonderful theme song (again like "The Last Unicorn" does).
This story and movie has heart for certain and therefore should be a must watch for friends of the genre..
Touching Fantasy Movie about the Conflict between Science and Myth.
Unlike other Rankin and Bass animated movies--The Hobbit and The Last Unicorn--this film isn't based on a single work.
I remember watching this film as a child, and I was captivated by the gorgeous Eastern artistic style of the dragons and the explanations of how their physiology worked.
Rewatching it as an adult, it still mostly works, and the style is still beautiful and imaginative.The start of the film is pretty strong, and introduces the 'Four Magic Brothers' each of whom rides his own dragon.
More logical-minded kids will love it, and adults will enjoy the animation style..
The question raised by the movie, that of magic vs science may be a little stale, but the way it presents the question is enchanting.
Thats just me though I guess.ANyway I fully recommend this film to anyone, who loves fantasy..
In these days of CGI and DTV, where technology is emulating magic and magic is something you read of in a book, Flight Of Dragons is one of those films that makes it worthwhile to look back at old cel-animation...Through the eyes of Peter, played by the late John Ritter, We are taken to a world which could really exist...
Where real old magic is on it's last legs, and the last of the great wizards wish to take it somewhere to exist for the rest of time. |
tt1042497 | Exit Speed | In Texas, Sergeant Archie Sparks (Fred Ward), an MP, has finally caught up with AWOL Corporal Meredith Cole (Julie Mond), who was accused of assaulting a commanding officer. Archie turns his back on Meredith for just a second, and there she goes off and running again.
Cole finds herself on an American Auto Coach bus on her way to El Paso, along with an eclectic group of passengers all geared up for an uneventful ride, that is until the bus passes a group of meth-addicted, nomadic bikers who taunt the passengers by doing all kinds of motorcycle stunts all around the bus.
Before long, one of the bikers makes a mistake and ends up under the wheels of the bus, and the rest of the bikers want revenge. The driver, Danny Gunn (David Rees Snell) stops the bus to help, and when Danny gets out, one of the bikers kills Danny. Stray shots from the biker also wound Meredith and passenger Joey Ryan (Danielle Beacham).
Another passenger, Jerry Yarbro (Gregory Jbara), a high school football coach who was accused of assaulting a student, retrieves the biker's weapon, while Walter Lindley (Wally White), another passenger, retrieves Danny's keys. The surviving passengers drive away in the bus in an effort to get away from the bikers. As they flee down the highway, Joey dies from her injuries.
The rest of the passengers include single mother Maudie McMinn (Lea Thompson), moody, wayward father Sam Cutter (Desmond Harrington), tough woman Desiree (Kelli Dawn Hancock), her extremely skittish boyfriend Duke (Nick Sowell), Annabel Drake (Alice Greczyn) a vegan who happens to be a competitive archer, and Ramon Vargas (Everett Sifuentes) a Spanish-speaking electrician.
At Jerry's insistence, they take the bus down a side road. The bikers force the bus off the road at an abandoned junkyard, where the bus crashes, killing Walter. The passengers build a makeshift bunker that the bikers surround. And Jerry, who seems to have anger management issues, still has the gun. The group is now on the defensive against the vengeful bikers. But they realize that in order to survive, they must go on the offensive and fight back against the bikers.
That evening, they make a plan to hold out in the junkyard while Maudie, (a marathoner), crosses 20 miles of desert to reach the nearest town for help. As the remaining survivors fight back with captured guns, Annabel's target bow, and Ramon's jury-rigged cannon, Maudie gets away from the compound. Maudie meets up with Archie, and they kill some of the bikers.
The two make it back to the compound during the middle of the confrontation, in which the remaining bikers injure Ramon and kill Duke, Desiree, and Jerry. After the remaining bikers are killed, the survivors—Sam, Meredith, Annabel, and Ramon—are driven to the nearest town by Maudie and Archie.
Later, at a hospital, Maudie reunites with her daughters, and Meredith again evades the army, this time with Archie's help. Meredith joins Sam and Annabel as they head back out on the road in a minivan. | murder | train | wikipedia | Exit Speed was an interesting movie.
It keep you watching and rooting for the good guys.To put a small synopsis there for you I will say that it was about passengers on a bus that was kidnapped and thru their strengths, weakness, talents, and idiosyncrasies, they band together to survive this crack smoking, nose piercing, biker group from Hell.I liked it and I think you will too..
The trailer looked good so I picked it up expecting yet another low budget, straight-to-DVD action flick with small appearances by a couple of semi-recognizable stars (Fred Ward, Tremors; Lea Thompson, Back to the Future).
The characters start out as one dimensional cardboard cut-outs that all find themselves on the same bus to El Paso (ex-GI chick with mysterious past, angry coach, horny teen, artsy chick, foreign guy, worried mom...
I'll even go as far as to say that there is a character in this movie who ranks among Ripley and Sarah Connor in the most bad*ss woman in cinema category.If I have to nag about something, though, it's the pacing.
There are a couple of long stretches in this movie where little to no action happens, but I guess that's where character development fills in nicely.I'll end by saying I recommend this movie to anyone who loves a good action and that this movie deserves a much higher rating than its current 5.0/10..
In a nutshell, 'Exit Speed' is a thriller about a group of passengers travelling to Texas when, on the way, they are attacked by a murderous biker gang.
It looks like a past midnight TV movie or a straight-to-video flick.
I think they had two copies, total for this very fine and very exciting 'road warrior' kind of movie.OK, I must confess to having a Jones for Lea Thompson, who gets a top tier billing in this ultra-violent survival adventure.
She goes from scared stiff to resolute in a big hurry.If I had anything to complain about, it might be that the author(s) put two of the better characters out of action, as in dead, very early in the story.
Some of the best action happens at night but in the way it was all photographed, there's really nothing missing.There is definitely a fine sub-routine in this film, too, revolving around the moral conundrums facing Good Mom ( Lea Thompson's role as an ultra-yuppie returning from a funeral ), and The Not At All Bad Girl, which is Alice Greczyn as a Vegan illustrator and role-playing archer.Julie Mond sparkles in this film, for sure, as the Really Really Bad Girl -- who is an Army deserter and Iraq veteran -- and Fred Ward does a great job as a typical Fred Ward character, i.e., long-suffering.As noted this film is short at 88 minutes but it's worth the rental and it is worth the time and yes, I've watched it twice already.
Exit Speed opens with a female AWOL Army soldier being caught up with by Sergeant Archie Sparks (an underused Fred Ward, star of Tremors, one of my favorite b- movies ever), whose job it is to go after errant soldiers.
Sometimes in advance, for effect.But wouldn't you know it, as soon as Sparks turns his head, that darn Private Cole is off and running again, hopping onto a Greyhound bus on its way across Texas.
Unaware of the dangers of such a trip because of lessons not learned from everything from the Texas Chainsaws to the moronic Jeepers Creepers (or The Fast and the Furious, as it turns out), the bus is soon surrounded by a group of lunatic street bikers, who do wheelies all around the bus at freeway speeds and offer the passengers a series of alarming scowls.
Before long, one of the idiot bikers makes a mistake and ends up under the wheels of the bus, and the rest of them take it personally.I'm reminded of the fascinating contents of that passenger airliner that crashed at the beginning of Lost.
There's the AWOL soldier, a girl who once dated a biker and so is an encyclopedia of knowledge about everything they all need to know about their new enemies, a girl who is rated a "Dark Elf" in archery, for crying out loud, a football coach with anger issues, even a bus driver who once drove the six miles into Baghdad airport, reportedly the most dangerous stretch of road in the world.
It is awesomely stupid, but those of you looking for an action movie that makes up for the total absence of cleverness with an few extra levels of violence, this is your movie.
But those of you who might be driven to smack your forehead when you hear a girl say she can't shoot an arrow at one of the men trying to kill her and all the other passengers because she's VEGAN, then you might be better advised to run for the hills, bikers or not.
I don't know why this girl thought she might have to eat the man that she killed, but even better was the guy who mentioned that he once tried to get a job singing in a wedding chapel but was afraid he might screw it up.
My thoughts are that if you can screw up a job like that then you had plenty of problems even before the bikers attacked your tour bus.
There is something to be enjoyed here for people who really aren't looking for much, but the truth is that the biker that got run over is all we're ever given as far as a reason for why the whole movie is happening in the first place, which makes it feel like a pointless exercise in showing random people killing random bikers.
As it is, it comes across like a tour bus barreling across the Texas countryside with no driver, and us stuck in the front seat looking through the windshield..
The pleasure taken translates into my note, a solid 7/10.Then I watched that extra on the DVD, the making of, and I couldn't believe how tiny the budget actually was.
When this movie starts it looks like a normal TV movie where something dramatic will happen.
And because you don't expect these normal characters to commit these actions it can be shocking (Compared to Mad Max 2 Exit Speed is much more cruel and that is saying something).
I believe this is the first "review" I ever give something on IMDb. But I felt I had something to contribute.I just watched this from the DVD and I must say it is a very simple movie.
(Perhaps that is the trick?) There are several interesting characters in Exit Speed, with my personal favorites being "the princess" and the mother-of-three.
What a magical beauty!) Also, again, the way the movie manages to develop these characters in the short runtime is quite impressive.As for the plot, I don't think there's much that needs explaining or commenting.
Hop on this movie's bus, get behind the wheel, and enjoy some wild driving!.
I saw "Exit Speed" (2008), in Dallas, at Studio Movie Grill.
David Rees Small would add more action to the film, and would make the movie even more interesting.
At some point, the survivors could have grabbed a gun, taken one of the motorcycles, and sought help (in this way, there would have been more survivors).All of the cast and crew do a wonderful job, and the movie keeps us well entertained.
And, Everett Sifuentes, who plays the Spanish-speaking Mr. Vargas, provides comedy relief and steals the show!I hope this movie opens doors for these obviously artistic and creative people, who are very talented.
Lots of cast and crew were there; it was different since we don't usually have this kind of excitement in Big D.Lea Thompson and crew did a wonderful job of keeping us entertained, but the Spanish speaking Mr. Vargas (played by Everett Sifuentes) stole the show.
Subtitles were not provided, but that was much of the charm.There will be no Oscar nominations, but for a new production company getting off the ground, a cast and crew that consisted of a lot of 'no-name' actors, and limited special effects (by today's standards), the movie was very entertaining and had a lot of great lines..
Action films that really were just there for fun.This one takes place in Texas.
This time they run afoul of some scumbag bikers.Lea Thompson (Back to the Future I and II) gave a stirring performance.
They used whatever they could find to stay alive., and some (Alice Greczyn) found strength they didn't know existed.A fun movie..
An enjoyable return to the 'what if everybody was in the desert and wanted to kill everyone on the other side with just the resources they can salvage...' The kind of thing we used to enjoy on video in the 80's with a couple of well recognisable talents from great 80's movies.
Leah Thompson - still got it and looking just as lovely, Fred Ward just as gritty, and Desmond Harrington every bit as good as he is in TV's Dexter.
Never dull, never predictable and quite some violent action give Exit Speed the right ingredients for a gratuitous normal folks fighting back scenario.
More than adequate talent makes this picture a great DVD watch for fans of straight out action..
and I'm not even usually a fan of action movies, i just happened to know someone working on it.Im not sure if this is going to have a national release, but if it comes out near you, it would be well worth your time!I suppose there were a few things that could have been done differently, but I don't even remember at this point.Overall, I thought it was great, considering it had a (considerably) low budget.
This movie is about a group of holiday bus travelers that, when attacked, accidentally run over two bikers.
The rest of the bikers rally to try to kill the passengers on the bus.
The biker gang is apparently all mute because none of them utter a word throughout the movie.
The movie did a poor job of re-using bike actors after the first version of them is killed off.
I would suggest waiting until this movie comes to cable to satisfy any curiosity you may have about whether it's worth watching.
Read in the Dallas Morning News that Exit Speed was filmed here in the Dallas area, which got my attention (any locals remember Semi-Tough?).
Was informed at the time that it would not be playing locally for long, so I might suggest that anyone looking for a good movie to see this weekend do so.
A great little survival Thriller with a cast of great characters!!!
A bunch of people on a coach on xmas eve are traveling through texas when an accident causes a gang of psycho bikers to attack the coach & it runs off the lonesome road & into an old junkyard & there is where it gets really exciting.
Desmond Harrington from Wrong Turn & Ghost Ship is one of the passengers & he's really cool in this & brings yet another good & serious performance to his ordinary guy role.
Fred Ward is also really great as an old timer from the Army tracking one of the passengers down, we also have some incredible performances from some very strong women characters like from lea Thompson!!!
A great small cast trying to find weapons & survive the night against faceless evil bikers & IT'S great fun, the type of easy watching late night Thriller that's made on a tiny budget but with real heart.
Exit Speed is a rare excellent low budget exciting Thriller!!!
He has made a name for himself in the horror Thriller Genre & he has a good serious screen presence like the old school B-movie character actors like Tom Atkins, Robert forster & Christopher George, Harrington to me is todays version of that type of genre actor.
The cast is excellent & the performances are all great really great,lea Thompson gives a fantastic powerful & emotional perfect that elevates this low budget B-movie way above the usual flicks,she is a strong woman with a tough back story!!!
EXIT SPEED really is a special little film as the there is so much care taken to give each character some back story, each character on the coach is going through something just like real people it's really well made.
Just by looking at the cover/poster for "Exit Speed", then you know that this is going to be one of those movies.
But still, there is something oddly alluring about these movies that makes us come back and watch them.
Perhaps it is because they tend to be some overly campy, or because there might be a snowball's chance in Hell that the movie will surprise everyone and turn out to be good."Exit Speed", however, did not turn out to be one of those movies that just blindsides you and turn out to be interesting or particularly entertaining.One of the things that actually made me sit down to watch "Exit Speed", despite knowing well enough that the chances that this would be another low budget failure of a thriller, was because the movie had Lea Thompson and Fred Ward in it.The storyline is probably what makes this yet another of those run-of-the-mill movies that flood the market and fail to make an outstanding notification of itself.
"Exit Speed" is about a group of people on a bus that fall prey to a gang of bikers.Aside from the questionable storyline, then the characters in "Exit Speed" also turned out to be mechanical and one-dimensional.
That means that you, as a spectator, doesn't really care about any of the characters in the movie.The effects in "Exit Speed" were simple, but they served their purpose well enough.
And while I did see the movie to the end, I can't really claim to have been properly entertained by what I witnessed in "Exit Speed"..
Exit Speed has no big stars and not much production value, but it offers an agreeable enough entertainment adventure.
I actually think that this could have been a solid big screen movie with an upgraded cast and a bigger budget.The plot basically pits some everyday bus passengers against a biker gang out in the middle of nowhere.
Watch it, if these kinds of movies are your thing..
The biker starts shooting killing the bus driver and others.
They manage to kill the biker but the rest of his friends come looking for revenge.
The biker gang seems more like central casting rejects.
Potentially good movie ruined by score..
I was excited about seeing this movie after noticing that a few actors I really enjoy watching were part of the cast.
A good score works in sync with the plot of a movie and helps invoke the emotions that the director is trying to make the audience feel.
This movie reminds me of action films of the 90's ...in a good way!!!!!!!.
The beginning starts off a little slow but towards the middle you get some decent action, my only complaint would be character build up.
We don't really know who has the primary role in the film, also it seems the characters who kissed at the end caught me off guard, I suppose because I was expecting the love interest to be the Army Girl.
really loved Fred Ward cant' get enough of watching him in movies..
I thought that the idea of total ordinary people getting stuck out in the middle of nowhere against a bunch of lawless attackers in the middle of the desert was a pretty good story line...
I found the side bits with Fred Ward as a military cop chasing AWOL soldiers better than the main thrust of people being attacked by the gang.
I think they work better because they don't feel like a bumped up TV movie, having an edge that the rest of the film really doesn't have.
Sound like a lurid, suspenseful movie?
Exit Speed is one of those cheap, unoriginal looking action thrillers, that often play on cable, and this one is no exception.
This plays off like a cheap version of Mad Max, only with whiny characters who have trouble getting along, and nowhere near enough action to satisfy.
People like Lea Thompson, Fred Ward show up for paychecks and are wasted.
This movie is like a longer, very well written and slightly more violent than normal episode of Walker, Texas Ranger
and I mean that in a complimentary and completely unsnarky way.
A bus full of people heading down a Texas highway runs into a gang of violent and crazy bikers.
The bus folk end up running over and killing two of the bikers, leading the rest of the gang to chase them down a back road and into a deserted junkyard where the bus passengers barricade themselves in and try and hold off their menacing enemies until they can figure out how to get help.
I know that doesn't sound like much of a story, but it works because these filmmakers give all the bus passengers fairly distinct personalities and purposes to serve while keeping the audience genuinely in suspense as to how many of them, if any, are going to survive.
It's just simple, direct and engaging.Now, Exit Speed does have a decent-sized flaw in that the biker gang is never anything but a generic threat.
And for some reason, the bikers are repeatedly shown doing these little riding tricks, like wheelies or there's this one guy who stands on top of his motorcycle and surfs it as it goes down the road.
It makes them look more like hardware store owners and accountants who pretend to be a biker gang on the weekends.
Now, I have seen a lot of cinematic excrement, movies so poorly written, asininely directed and atrociously acted that I may be over praising Exit Speed a bit. |
tt0177516 | The American Dreamer | A voice over says, "No, that's not right." The scenario is repeated with adjustments until the voice is eventually satisfied. The screen fades to Cathy Palmer (JoBeth Williams) sitting at a typewriter, finishing up the story. She seals it in an envelope and sends it off. Later, her husband, Kevin (James Staley), comes home and she tells him about entering a contest to write a short story following the "Rebecca Ryan" series of novels. Kevin is patronizing, telling her, "The important thing, kid, is that you're doing something you like to do".
Cathy is notified by mail that she has won the contest, including an all-expense paid trip to Paris for two, an Award ceremony and a meeting with the author of the "Rebecca Ryan" novels. Kevin is uninterested in the trip and tries to persuade her to decline, but she goes on the trip alone. While sightseeing in Paris, her purse is snatched. Chasing the thief, she runs into a street where she is knocked down by a car.
The accident leaves Cathy with amnesia; she thinks she is the detective, Rebecca Ryan. She escapes from the hospital and assumes Rebecca's dashing persona, lavish wardrobe, and residence at the Hôtel de Crillon. When she returns to her apartment, she is greeted by Alan McMann (Tom Conti), who thinks she is a clerical assistant he has requested from an agency. Rebecca ignores all of the tasks he assigns her, instead believing that Alan is Rebecca's sidekick, Dimitri.
Rebecca is convinced that she must save Victor Marchand (Giancarlo Giannini), the leader of the opposition party, from an assassination plot. Rebecca and Alan chase Victor around Paris in an attempt to protect him from the (fictitious) murder plot, with Victor instead getting injured several times from Rebecca's rescues. They are also running from a shadowy figure. Rebecca and Alan flee to Alan's mother's house. While there, Alan and Rebecca consummate their relationship. But there's a shadowy figure outside the window...
Kevin enters the house and meets Rebecca & Alan coming down the stairs. Kevin punches Alan. Rebecca doesn't see Kevin, she and Alan run off to save Victor on the train. Once they "save" Victor from the train, which he jumps off. Rebecca and Alan come face to face with Kevin and that is when Cathy gets her memory back. She wakes in the hospital.
While recovering at a hospital, Cathy apologizes to Alan for her delusions and bids him goodbye. At the airport, she realizes that she does not want to go home with Kevin. She leaves Kevin at the airport, and returns to the hotel to find Alan. They embrace, and are soon kidnapped.
Cathy and Alan learn their kidnapper is Victor, the man they'd been trying to "protect" all along. Victor has been seriously injured from Rebecca's repeated rescue attempts, and is clad in neck brace and arm sling, and walks with a cane. Victor reveals that he is running a drug-smuggling operation, and he believes that Cathy and Alan know about his secret criminal dealings. Alan tries to tell Victor the truth about Cathy's accidental amnesia and series of lucky coincidences, but Victor doesn't believe them. Cathy and Alan manage to escape from their bonds and jump into the river, eluding Victor and his henchmen. Cut to...
A living room. Cathy and Alan (now a couple and writing partners) are reading the manuscript of the most recent Rebecca Ryan novel to Cathy's two children. They get to the end of the chapter, and pack the kids off to bed, in spite of the children's demands to know "what happens next". The film ends with some banter and cuddling where Alan and Cathy tease that the next part of the Rebecca Ryan story (i.e. their story) is too sexy to be written down. | philosophical | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0064685 | The Monk | An abandoned baby is taken in by a Spanish monastery, and raised as a monk, christened Capuchin Ambrosio. An exceptional preacher, Ambrosio is respected by all. One day a masked figure by the name of Valerio arrives at the monastery with his godfather, explaining the mask as necessary due to terrible burns inflicted on him in a fire that killed his parents. He expresses a desire to join the monastery which is initially shunned by several of the monks, however Ambrosio convinces them to not fear his differences, and to accept him.
Valerio later reveals to Ambrosio that he is actually a woman by the name of Matilda, and Ambrosio orders her to leave. As a last request she asks for a rose from his rose garden, and upon reaching in to pluck one for her, Ambrosio is bitten by a giant centipede. As he becomes delirious from the effects of the venom, he is seduced by Matilda and compromises his faith. Another lady, Antonia, who had recently heard him preach comes to the monastery to ask that Ambrosio see her sick mother. He complies and is told of a story by the sickly mother that she left a son Mateo that was lost years ago and this troubles her soul. Driven by a carnal lust for Matilda, Ambrosio transgresses and he is soon found desiring the innocent Antonia now. He also sees apparitions of the pregnant Nun he condemned to death by turning her over to the prioress.
Matilda recognizes Ambrosio's new interest in the fair Antonia and uses magic spells to help the monk in his pursuit of her. She resists and her rape by him and discovery of her murdered mother (at the hand of Ambrosio) leads to her insanity. As her mother dies, she utters the word "Mateo," indicating that Ambrosio now knows that he is the older brother of Antonia that was lost years ago. Returning to the monastery, Ambrosio is delivered to the Inquisition where he is condemned to death by starvation; escaping only by selling his soul to the devil in an effort to save Antonia. It later emerges that Matilda is an instrument of Satan in female form. The devil prevents Ambrosio's final repentance... | murder | train | wikipedia | "The Monk" could have been a great series for George Maharis. George Maharis gave a brilliant performance as Buz Murdock on "Route 66". For a short period in the 60's, all you could hear about was Maharis (sort of like Don Johnson or David Caruso in later years.) Maharis seemed to have a great future ahead of him. He had charisma and attitude to spare. In interviews, he seemed extremely sensitive and intelligent. When his movie career didn't quite take off, Maharis tried to return to series stardom-always a risky bet.Blake Edwards had created three great TV detectives: Richard Diamond, Peter Gunn and Mr. Lucky. Blake Edwards' Gus Monk could have been another classic, stylish hero. (Vince Edwards turned the role down due to another commitment, but said he loved the script.) The problem with this pilot wasn't Maharis. He looked incredible and his personality meshed with Monk. Given time and good writing, Maharis could have given the role real depth, as he did with Buz Murdock.The problem with this pilot was that producer Aaron Spelling just wasn't sharp enough. Maybe Herbert Brodkin ("Coronet Blue", "Shane") or David Susskind ("N.Y.P.D.") could have made it work. Or the great Blake Edwards.When "The Monk" didn't sell, Spelling came up with another series for Maharis called "The Most Deadly Game", a reworking of "Checkmate". The show was originally going to co-star Inger Stevens and Ralph Bellamy. Yvette Mimieux replaced Inger Stevens when she died. It was another viable premise and a fine cast, but again the execution was not as good as it should have been.Amazingly the great George Maharis never had another series. One of Hollywood's true unsolved mysteries.. hopeless. well, what did I expect in a 10 DVD set of "Specials"?, but I've seen a few others in a 10-pack that were really good. Not this one. There is a cute scene with a cat that drinks beer, but is uncredited. That has to be worth one rating point? And there are some neat shots of downtown San Francisco, and the marina area, and that gets the second rating point! but not much else to even comment on.Gus Monk flies back from... somewhere and is asked to help a hot- shot lawyer representing a syndicate hood with secrets. There are a few killings, a cop, an odd widow. I suppose it is just a TV pseudo- thriller. And, being San Francisco, they (the director/writer etc) put in a totally unbelievable car chase, ending in an unsurvivable crash, but of course, Monk walks away from it and goes on to solve all the mystery.. Pilot made with misguided hope.. This attempt to give George Maharis a series starring as Gus Monk, an unlicensed private investigator based loosely in San Francisco, falls flat due to its inordinate predictability and silly clichéd script, served up with the customary sprinkling of "guest stars" (Carl Betz, Janet Leigh) while being hindered by shoddy direction and a most critical factor: Maharis is not much of an actor. Undervalued cinematographer Fleet Southcott creates some interesting moments, and there are capable performances from William Smithers and Rick Jason as unsavoury types, but poor Maharis is the lead and when he is attempting a reaction to important plot elements, may they be dead bodies, or women involved in the goings-on, it is curtains for this effort. |
tt0039776 | Road to Rio | Scat Sweeney and Hot Lips Barton, two out-of-work musicians, travel the United States trying to find work and stay away from girls. After running from state to state, each time running because of a girl, they try their luck in Louisiana.
They stow away on board a Rio-bound ship, after accidentally starting some fires at a circus. They then get mixed up with the distraught Lucia, who first thanks them, then unexpectedly turns them over to the ship's captain. Unbeknownst to both of them, Lucia is being hypnotized by her crooked guardian, Catherine Vail. Vail plans to marry Lucia to her brother so she can control her and a set of "papers."
After a series of misadventures. including sneaking off the boat, recruiting a few local musicians, and the boys trying to escape with Lucia only to have Vail hypnotize her again and slap them both, Vail decides to do away with the boys permanently. She hypnotizes both of them and tries to get them to kill each other in a duel, but it fails. Scat and Hot Lips finally figure things out and the boys head for the ceremony in order to stop the wedding and to help catch the crooks. Upon finding the "papers", which Scat reads, when Hot Lips asks what they are about, Scat tears them up and looks into the camera, saying, "The world must never know."
Later on, Scat is dismayed to see that Lucia loves Hot Lips and not him, but upon peeking through a keyhole, he sees Hot Lips hypnotizing her.
Hope's frequent sidekick Jerry Colonna has a cameo as the leader of a cavalry charging to the rescue of Bing and Bob, as the film cuts away to the galloping horses periodically. All is resolved before he can arrive, leading Colonna to point out: | entertaining | train | wikipedia | Hope and Crosby are great, and romantic moments are designed for Lamour...but let's not forget the wonderful Wiere Brothers.
Considering that The Road to Rio was the fifth in the series, that the formula was down pat, that the plot, as usual, was merely an excuse for spontaneous and not-so-spontaneous bantering by the two stars, that the money-to-effort ratio was by now very satisfying to nearly all concerned, and that Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, both at 44, were quickly reaching the point where their age was working against their image of happy-go-lucky, sex-on-their- minds, slightly dumb but well-intentioned good guys...well, this is one of the best in the series.
Their roles, Bing Crosby as Scat Sweeney, singer and slightly moth-eaten bon vivant, and Bob Hope as Hot Lips Barton, slow-witted but wise- cracking boy-man, are as comfortable to them and us as a pair of old slippers.
Scat Crosby and Hot Lips Hope encounter them while the two boys are trying to rescue Dorothy Lamour from a nefarious plot.
Although Hope, Crosby and Lamour were teaming together for the fifth time in a Road movie, the format and style remain fresh, with a greater emphasis on song and a more rigid plot-line than in its four predecessors.
The interplay between the three stars continues to be a delight, and Gale Sondergaard makes for a wonderful villain, whilst the Wiere Brothers almost steal the show as a trio of Rio street entertainers whom Bing and Bob persuade to impersonate the last three members of the five-piece all-American band that they have promised to deliver into Nestor Paiva's nightclub.
McLeod, marks the fifth installment to the popular "in name only" comedy series featuring that famous trio of Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour.
Unlike its preceding adventures of ROAD TO ZANZIBAR (1941), MOROCCO (1942) and UTOPIA (1946), ROAD TO RIO is no doubt funnier than its initial entry, ROAD TO SINGAPORE (1940), yet coming across on its own merits presenting itself almost like a straight-forward musical-comedy than its predecessors consisting of offbeat situations, talking animals and formalistic Hollywood in-jokes.
Certain aspects, however, ranging from opening titles bearing animated names of its principal players dancing across the screen; to the wide-eyed/ bushy-mustached Jerry Colonna coming from nowhere leading his calvary on horseback belting out a long wide yell; Hope and Crosby's "patty-cake" routine and witty comedy lines are true reminders of this being very much a part of the "Road" adventures the public then has grown to love so well.The plot gets off to a really good start in a carnival where the smooth talking "Scat" Sweeney (Bing Crosby) has his pal "Hot-Lips" Barton (Bob Hope) doing a high wire bicycle act leading to disastrous results before the carnival catches fire, burning to the ground.
To avoid capture by an angry boss and mob, the boys make a run for it, ending up as stowaways taking refuge in a lifeboat of the S.S. Queen bound for Rio. During their voyage, they encounter the beautiful Lucia Maria De Andrade (Dorothy Lamour) traveling with her aunt, Catherine Vail (Gale Sondergaard).
As Scat and Hot Lips each vie for Lucia's affections, they become confused by her sudden mood changes (from "I love you," to "I hate you," I loathe you," "I despise you" ...) reactions, unaware she's actually under a hypnotic trance by her aunt, whose intentions are for her to forget about these men and concentrate on her forthcoming marriage.
Upon their arrival in Rio, Scat and Hot Lips obtain jobs working for Mr. Cardoso (Nestor Paiva) in his nightclub with three odd-ball musicians (The Wiere Brothers) who don't speak any English, before braving Mrs. Vail's henchmen (Frank Faylen and Joseph Vitale) disguised as a pirate and Caribbean dancer, to entertain at Lucia's wedding, to extremely funny results.In between Hope and Crosby antics and Lamour's hypnotic trance, song interludes by Johnny Burke and James Van Heusen enter the scene, including: "We're on Our Way" (sung by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope); American standards of "Swanee River" (by Stephen Foster), and "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" (by James A.
Bland); "But Beautiful" (sung by Crosby); "You Have to Know the Language" (sung and performed by Crosby and the Andrews Sisters); "Experience" (sung by Dorothy Lamour); and "Brasilia (I Yi Yi)." Crosby's performing on board ship with the Andrews Sisters (Laverne, Patti and Maxene), a popular singing trio during the World War II years, ranks one of the film's several highlights.
For being the longest (100 minutes) in the "Road" series, Crosby's vocalizing of "But Beautiful" to Lamour was usually one that got deleted from most television prints during the 1970s and 80s to fill in enough commercial breaks during its standard two hour time slot.This highly entertaining and worthwhile "Road" entry, formerly presented on American Movie Classics (1997-2001), is often hailed as the last great "Road" comedy, though certainly not its finish.
With the overplayed ROAD TO MOROCCO listed among one of the greatest comedies by the American Film Institute, ROAD TO RIO, with Crosby, Hope and Lamour at their finest, is certainly entertaining enough to merit attention and availability for future generations to endure.
They stowaway on a boat bound for Rio De Janeiro and they meet damsel in distress Dotty with her "aunt" Gale Sondergaard and her two henchmen Frank Faylen and Joseph Vitale.
Dragon lady Gale has been hypnotizing Dottie to force her into a marriage so that her inheritance can be swindled.The Road pictures always had a usual pattern of songs.
Hope and Crosby do Appalachicola, Fla and Dottie does an unforgettable version of Experience accompanied by Hope playing a bubble blowing trumpet.Bing Crosby's most frequent singing partners were the Andrews Sisters on record.
They did enough material to fill more than three of those old fashioned vinyl LPs. But their only appearance in a movie with Bing is here and they sing You Don't Have To Know The Language with him as an extra treat.See it and figure out for yourself what was in those "papers" that the world was better off in blissful ignorance of..
It stars Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, Gale Sondergaard and Frank Faylen.
Music is by Robert Emmett and cinematography by Ernest Laszlo.Hope and Crosby star as two vaudevillians, who after setting a circus on fire, stow away on a liner bound for Brazil.
Once there they encounter a distressed woman (Lamour) who is being coerced into an unwanted marriage by her scheming guardian.The fifth in the hugely popular "Road To" series of films, Rio follows the same trajectory as before.
In support the wonderful Sondergaard turns in another one of her memorable villainess performances, and The Wiere Brothers form part of the narrative to produce great comedic results.With a blazing first quarter, a jovial middle section and a genuinely hilarious finale, Road to Rio achieves everything a "Road To" fan could wish for.
Bing and the Andrews Sisters' rendition of "You Don't Have to Know the Language" is my favourite "Road" musical interlude.
I am so glad to have seen the brothers in "Road to Rio" because apparently there is very little of their routines on film.It is also good to see Gale Sondergaard in a type of role she made her own - mysterious evil with a beautiful face and body.
Another Road picture with Bob, Bing and Dorothy.
Dorothy Lamour, Bob Hope,Bing Crosby.
With a bit of a slow start, Road to Rio finally joins the ranks of the immortal Road To movie series of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.
Then again, humor is a matter of taste, and if I think they're funny, then the movies are deserving of good reviews!In this one Bing and Bob take an ocean liner to Rio, where they each fall in love with Dorothy Lamour.
Since she plays hot and cold, both guys think they have a shot-and when they discover what's going on with Gale, they have the masculine urge to save their damsel.As usual, Bing, Bob, and Dorothy are movie magic together, and the quips fly off as quickly as they can rattle them out.
When Bing sings "But Beautiful" there's a screen behind him playing a movie and the opposite motion will make you sick.
A chunk of history in this chapter of the Road films; Bob Hope and Bing Crosby traveled around the world (...
they had recorded 47 songs with Bing, which is probably why they are in Road to Rio. The Wiere Brothers were an act that had come over from Deutchland, and stayed, performing when and where they could.
the plot is pretty inane, but as usual, they boys run off from their last fiasco of a performance, and meet up with Dorothy Lamour on the way to Brazil.
As in most of these films, the boys(Bing and Hope) begin as ne'er-do-well struggling entertainers.
They are given an opportunity to join the ship's orchestra, with "Hot Lips" Hope playing the trumpet and Bing the clarinet and singing.
The Andrew Sisters team with Bing, singing "You Don't Have to Know the Language.Mrs. Vail continues to try to get rid of the boys as romantic rivals to her brother whom she wants to force Lucia to marry so that she can obtain some important papers and control Lucia, presently being her guardian.
Songs: "But Beautiful" (Crosby); "You Don't Have To Know the Language" (Crosby, Andrews Sisters); "Experience" (Lamour); "Apalachicola, Fla" (Crosby, Hope); "Cavaquinho" (Wiere Brothers) -- all by Johnny Burke (lyrics) and James Van Heusen (music), who wrote another song, "For What?" for the Andrews Sisters, but this was deleted; "Brazil" (orchestral) by Ary Barroso (music), Bob Russell (lyrics).
Fleeing from the vengeance of the carnival owner, they stow away on board a luxury passenger ship bound for Rio where they meet and rescue a beautiful heiress who is being craftily mesmerized by her evil aunt.
"The Road to Rio" is an almost perfect musical comedy, wittily scripted, ingratiatingly played, sensitively directed and lavishly produced.
The bantering between Bing and Bob was never better and here they are joined by a really out-of-the-drawer support cast led by the spider lady herself, Gale Sondergaard.
As a satire on the movie chase thriller, complete with cross-cutting to the last-minute rescue party that here actually arrives on the scene too late, "The Road to Rio" is still an absolute delight.
Picture back in 1940, each subsequent entry in the series seemed to build on its wacky and manic content, with each becoming slightly more off the wall and crazy as the last.However when the fifth entry was released in 1947, for some reason things were toned down a tad, making the Road to Rio, although still funny and enjoyable appear to lack the quirkiness and zany antics of what had gone before.The banter and wise cracks between our two heroes is as good as ever, and the musical numbers up to par as well, but in spite of this, I always have a problem associating this film with any other in the series.
It seems out on it's own; out on a limb.Maybe it's because unlike its predecessors, the gang are not lost in the untamed wild of somewhere or other, perhaps its the lack of talking animals, or perhaps it has more to do with the fact that this story actually has a plot; a real story you can follow instead of the more customary and formulaic half-hearted story onto which a few gags and songs had been pinned.Still the film is enjoyable and very funny, with The Andrew Sisters, Bing's other frequent stalwarts from radio and record, joining in on the fun for 'You Don't Have to Know the Language' and a delightful comic turn from The Weire Brothers as three local boys trying to pass themselves off as red blooded Americans, despite only knowing three slang terms in English which had been taught to them by Hope and Crosby just minutes before.As I said you will enjoy this entry very much but you will probably find this movie more akin to a Bob Hope 'My Favorite Blonde/Brunette' kind of comedy than anything so far seen in the 'Road To...' franchise.
"The Road To Rio" was right there in the middle...not great, but really good.Scat Sweeney and Hot Lips Barton, both out-of-work musicians, head for Louisiana and through their bumbling cause a fire at a circus.
Of course, they run into Dorothy Lamour (Lucia), who seems to have a split personality, but is actually being controlled by the hypnosis by her sleazy guardian, played deliciously by Gale Sondergaard.
Along the way, the boys gain the help of the Wiere Brothers, who were pretty funny guys who never seemed to make it big in movies.
After accidentally setting a circus on fire in Louisiana, two Vaudville performers named "Scat Sweeney" (Bing Crosby) and "Hot Lips Barton" (Bob Hope) secretly board a passenger liner headed for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
That night Scat meets a young woman in distress by the name of "Lucia Maria de Andrade" (Dorothy Lamour) and while attempting to console her divulges that he and Hot Lips Barton are stowaways.
I especially liked the chemistry between the three aforementioned actors and the addition of both the Andrews Sisters and the Wiere Brothers along with Jerry Colonna who appeared at the very end.
Road to Rio is another enjoyable series outing from Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour.
With this-the fifth in the Road series-there are a couple notable firsts: the first time Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour are billed above the title instead of after and the first time that Hope and Crosby are profit participants in a series entry as the copyright is assigned to them while the beginning logo says "A Paramount Release" instead of "Picture".
Anyway, after a not very funny beginning involving a circus and a bike on a tightrope, the fun comes fast and furious after the boys stowaway on a ship to the title city with Ms. Lamour on board.
Also on board is Gale Sondergaard as the villainess with one of her henchman played by Frank Faylen-a player from my favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life, of which I always like to cite when someone involved in that one is involved in something else.
Also good to see The Andrews Sisters do a number with Bing and The Wiere Brothers do both comedy and music well.
Unfortunately Hope falls and accidentally sets the circus on fire, and the vaudevillians flee and stow away on board a ship bound for Brazil.
En route, they encounter a suicidal woman being coerced into a marriage she doesn't want, and get involved.The movie does have a sinister story and frightening villains, but it has plenty of fun scenes of singing and dancing and clowning, with appearances by the Andrews sisters and the Weire Brothers.
This is the fifth in a series of seven "Road" done by Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour.
It's got two 'Road' pictures (Rio and Bali), and a nice assortment of additional films spanning Hope's career.
Watching one, it's hard not to watch another immediately after, especially when he teams with iconic sidekick Bing Crosby, or in this case, with Dorothy Lamour along for the ride with both stars.
Too bad they didn't show up in a few more Road shows.As usual, Dorothy Lamour turns up as a character unknown to the boys when the film begins; here she's an heiress who's villainous 'aunt', played by Gale Sondergaard, attempts to steal her fortune via an arranged marriage.
Aunt Catherine employs a couple of toughs to bodyguard Lucia (Lamour); Frank Faylen and Joseph Vitale both get to mix it up with the boys along the way, usually getting the short end of the stick.Best line of the picture - "Well if she looks like Lamour, she can sing like Lamour, can't she?" Sing she can, in a tuneful little single titled "Experience".
It's the kind of relaxed, enjoyable, self-referential episode we expect in the "road" series of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.
Two hoodlums are working for Lamour's aunt and the rest of the movie is basically a pursuit through the streets, night clubs, and hotel rooms of a touristy Rio.There are some pretty funny scenes.
Hope and Crosby stow away to Rio..
Fifth of the Hope and Crosby 'road shows'.
Not wacky, just straight comedy as Hot Lips Barton(Hope)and Scat Sweeney(Crosby)flee from Oklahoma and Texas avoiding matrimony.
After burning down a tent show, the boys stow away on a ocean liner headed to Rio. Aboard ship, the song and dance duo fall for the luscious Lucia(Dorothy Lamour), who runs hot and cold, because she is being hypnotized by her evil aunt(Gale Sondergard)trying to force her into an arranged marriage.
Songs written by the team of Johnny Burke-Jimmy Van Heusen are entertaining; the best being "But Beautiful" by Crosby and "Experience" by Miss Lamour along with Hope's bubble blowing trumpet.
Nobody went to these movies looking for a great plot and were quite happy to to find a pair of performers one jump ahead of the posse and watch Crosby set Hope up for another life-threatening stunt before meeting up with Lamour and the resident heavies.
Frank Faylen, Nestor Paiva, the Andrews Sisters and the Wiere Brothers make up the numbers for one of the top three in the franchise..
As is, it left a lot to be desired.Bob Hope and Bing Crosby are caught up in their all too familiar antics, this time fleeing to Brazil, after they've been accused of starting an accidental fire in a circus.Meeting up with Dorothy Lamour is the worst thing that could happen to the guys since she is being victimized by her guardian to wed the latter's brother so as to swindle her fortune.Gale Sondergaard is up to her usual sinister ways in this one.
Even the Andrews Sisters show up on board the boat in this one to sing a song with Bing. |
tt0069279 | Slaughter | After the father of Vietnam veteran and ex-Green Beret captain Slaughter (Jim Brown) is killed by a car bomb, he becomes obsessed with avenging the murder. He learns it was arranged by a Cleveland organized-crime gang and tracks down the mobster personally responsible, killing a Mafia member in the process. The murderer, however, manages to escape.
Slaughter gets arrested and charged with first-degree murder, but Treasury Department official Price (Cameron Mitchell) offers to drop all charges if he agrees to go to an unnamed South American country to capture the escaped mobster, who apparently has a super-computer that helps him run his crime empire.
Upon arriving, Slaughter meets up with two fellow agents, Harry (Don Gordon) and Kim (Marlene Clark), having previously known Kim. The mobster responsible for the murder of Slaughter's father is Dominic Hoffo (Rip Torn), right-hand man of kingpin Felice (Norman Alfe). Hoffo, a blatant racist and sociopath, instantly hates Slaughter, especially when his comare Ann (Stella Stevens), a professional working for the organization, makes it clear she's delighted to have been ordered by Felice to present herself to Slaughter as a peace offering.
Slaughter, having no intention of backing down from his vendetta, accepts Ann's offer with pleasure, and her loyalties quickly transfer to him. Numerous fights and gun battles ensue, with the hot-headed Hoffo eventually killing the more reasonable Felice and assuming command, beating Ann viciously for her disloyalty. After a climactic shootout and lengthy car chase, Slaughter succeeds in killing Hoffo by incinerating him in a crashed vehicle. | violence, cult, revenge, murder, blaxploitation | train | wikipedia | It kicks off a little slow, but by the time they get to Mexico, things pick up and get pretty smokin' in the conclusion--Jim Brown's entrance to the casino is terriffic, it's got the shock value of having a dwarf thrown through your bay window.
His later entrance to the bad guys' lair from the car is also classic.
Jim Brown isn't a great actor, but his ass-kicking stoicism is at it's best here, as he slaps down legions of bad guys with barely a raised eyebrow.
(Did you know that, aside from his football skills, Jim Brown was supposedly the greatest Jai Lai player on earth?) Stella Stevens and Rip Torn are also very good, but even higher praise goes to Billy Preston's theme song..
Baby, it's Jim Brown.....
This film revels in the various hallmarks of the Blaxpoitation genre, but Brown comes out of it unscathed.
He plays a former Green Beret whose parents are killed by the Mob (his father was heavily involved with them.) When he tries to exact revenge, he winds up recruited by Treasury Department official Mitchell to work together in bringing down several mobsters in Mexico.
Things get complicated and very ugly when Alfe sends Torn's ex-hooker girlfriend (Stevens) to soften up (or harden?) Brown.
Brown, though very low-key through most of the film, presents such an amiable presence despite the tawdriness of the material that he makes this film worth watching.
Stevens gets a showy dress (and undress!) rehearsal for her memorable role as an ex-prostitute in "The Poseidon Adventure" (filmed just after this.) Her look in this film is precisely the same, though she has some far more adult scenes in this one.
Brown's sex scenes with Stevens had to have been quite the eye-openers in 1972 as they still are even today!
Alfe (who, oddly, has not one other screen credit to his name) is distinctive and memorable (if, at times, unintentionally funny.) With a Mr. Roarke hairdo and with a voice that may not be the actor's own, he nonetheless does a decent job of presenting a man with power and influence.
Mitchell hardly appears and Clark's role is an almost total throwaway (though she has one memorably hilarious exit from an apartment doorway!) This film is not for everyone as it is decidedly politically incorrect with plenty of the "N" word flying around.
Much of the film, though, comes off as pretty slick with a terrific title song, some well-handled action scenes and enough spark in the dialogue to hold one's interest.
It was followed by an even more lurid, but entertaining, sequel..
Jim Brown is one cool dude, even when he's making a typical 70s blaxploitation flick.Here, he is an ex-Green Beret home from 'nam going after the mob thugs that killed his father.First, he has to get by their secret weapon, Stella Stevens, girlfriend of #2, Rip Torn, a racist that is just seething at the thought of Stevens between the sheets with Brown.
That must have been a shock to 70s audiences.Now, the thugs are not too bright as they try to run Brown down with a Mustang.
Their efforts to catch him in the casino meets with equal disaster as he runs right through them.Of course, you know Slaughter wins in the end because there is a sequel.One interesting aspect for the younger folks is the IBM punch card that figures prominently in the film.
...because I've been able to watch this film and other great blaxploitation classics.The plot is pretty basic for this genre(the tough black hero avenges the death of his loved one and kick some "whitey" butt in the process).Although the film seems dated,the action pieces more than make up for it.Jim Brown shows a limited range as an actor,but Rip Torn is great as the slimy mobster & Stella Stevens is hot as always as the girlfriend..
MGM had SHAFT (1971) with Richard Roundtree, AIP had SLAUGHTER with Jim Brown.
After his parents are blown up by the Mafia, Vietnam Vet Brown's gonna kick some greasy Italian ass (Rip Torn), and along the way he gets a sidekick (Steve McQueen's mate Don Gordon), sleeps with Stella Stevens and generally causes havoc down in Mexico.
It's not very good, but there are some decent action scenes and it's a hell of a lot better than some of the Blaxploitation garbage..
Yes, the film stars Jim Brown and yes he kicks a lot of butt.
That's because the film is mostly set in Mexico and the good guys are the government.
This is definitely NOT a battle between Black and White America, but our hero, Brown, is solidly on the side of 'the Man'; i.e., the government.The film begins with the family of former Green Beret, Brown, being killed by mobsters.
As a result, he goes on a one-man mission to kill mobsters.
However, this ends up causing problems because he blunders into a covert government operation and the real bad guy gets away.
The plot ends up being rather mindless--with Brown shooting and punching as well as mobsters killing each other off like mad.
However, it's enjoyable and time-passing mindless.This film is blessed with a very good supporting cast.
The seldom recognized Don Gordon (star of countless TV shows), Cameron Mitchell, Stella Stevens and Rip Torn are all on hand to give the film some good acting, so that all the weight of the film doesn't rest on Brown just killing people!
Those who loved it, and still do, took it on its own terms, as simple, trashy fun.Sadly, it's fun that is sorely missing from this lame Jim Brown vehicle.
Brown plays the titular ex-Marine and all-round bad-ass whose father is murdered by some Latin American gangsters.
It is.Unlike many of the lighter Blaxploitation films, there are no winks to the audience here.
This is the film's downfall.Jim Brown is charismatic enough, though he's no Richard Roundtree or Fred Williamson.
Stella Stevens genuinely shines as his "love" interest and a young Rip Torn is positively loony (and totally out-of-place) as the goon-turned-boss out to get Slaughter.
The action sequences are barely worth watching and the script is not a patch on the films it clearly tries to emulate.All things considered, Slaughter is really one for die-hard Blaxploitation fans and/or completists.
Pretty Bad. Rip Torn makes for a good heavy, but the action sequences are poorly choreographed (sic?) .
I've always liked Jim Brown as an actor, but this is not one of his best.
Bad guys get shot on rooftops and they seemingly jump off when hit.
And what happens to Jim Brown's female friend and Cameron Mitchell towards the end of the movie?
Good enough for one viewing, especially if you want to see Stella Stevens in a rare nude scene and that's it..
Bad acting, worse plot.
I'm all for 1970s low-budget exploitation films but Slaughter failed to satisfy.
After Billy Preston's lame theme song you are dropped into the middle of a confusing story about the mafia, or maybe Mexican mobsters, who kill star Brown's parents in the first 10 seconds.
From there the tale meanders with little action and some really bad acting.
That can be forgiven if the film is at least a little fun but there's not much of that either.Brown's 'Hell Up in Harlem" is a lot more fun and makes a lot more sense..
Fair Blaxploitation Film.
Slaughter (1972) ** (out of 4)Ex Green Beret Slaughter (Jim Brown) seeks vengeance against the Mob who killed his father and soon teams up with some Feds to track down the gang and take them out one by one including the head guy (Rip Torn).
This AIP blaxploitation flick has a lot going for it but I found the direction to be all over the place and there were a few too many slow spots to be a complete winner, which is a shame because there's a terrific cast on display here.
The screenplay is your typical revenge tale but I think the film could have benefited from a small re-write because what we have here isn't all that interesting because the script really lets us down in terms of the bad guys.
We have a couple different bad guys but neither of them are very interesting and I think the film would have benefited by touching them up a tad bit more especially since you have an actor like Torn eating up the scenery and turning in a fine performance.
Brown, not the greatest actor out there, but he still manages to be quite cool in the role and he's got some funny comic timing as well.
The sequence where he crashes into a party and the servant asks if he has an invitation and Brown slowly pulls out his gun and says "yep" is certainly one of the highlights of the film.
We also get Cameron Mitchell in a couple brief scenes and it's always fun seeing him.
Even though all the guys do a good job it's the beautiful Stella Stevens who steals the film.
It's not her acting that steals the movie but her chest, which is constantly coming out of no matter what type of outfit she's wearing..
After his parents are killed by the mob, a former Green Beret (Jim Brown) joins forces with "The Man" to get his revenge.
An enjoyable Blaxploitation film that's not without its share of flaws.
Obviously, NFL great Jim Brown's acting leaves a lot to be desired.
Rip Torn is the villain and he spends most of the movie squinting and saying the N word.
Highlight of the movie is sexy Stella Stevens, in particular her memorable nude scenes.
This isn't one of my favorite Blaxploitation flicks but it's solid with some nice action and T&A.
There are only three reasons to see this and they are Stella Stevens three nude scenes, two in bed with Jim Brown, and one in the shower.
All you get is plenty of meaningless action, car chases, and other nonsense.
Cameron Mitchell is totally wasted, and Rip Torn unfortunately is forgettable as a Mafia boss.
"Slaughter" is nothing more than a weak mafia film, with Stella Stevens being the only attraction.
Don't mess around with Jim Brown!.
Rugged ex-Green Beret Slaughter (excellently played with mucho smooth macho aplomb by football great Jim Brown) goes to South America to exact a harsh revenge on the gangsters who killed his parents.
Slaughter locks horns with coarse, nasty, racist mob boss Hoffo (a deliciously odious Rip Torn) and romances Hoffo's sweet'n'sexy moll Ann (a charming performance by the breathtakingly beautiful Stella Stevens, who has a splendidly steamy gratuitous shower nude scene).
70's drive-in movie maestro Jack ("Race With the Devil") Starrett directs with his customary tight'n'brisk streamlined efficiency: the snappy pace rarely lets up for a minute, the copious action scenes are vigorous and exciting, there's no pretense to speak of, and the violence is startlingly raw and brutal (Brown really seems to enjoy pounding on various extras with his fists during the ferocious hand-to-hand fight sequences).
Kudos are also in order for the stellar supporting cast: Don Gordon as Slaughter's antsy, bumbling partner Harry, Marlene Clark as pesky government agent Kim, Norman Alfe as wise, gravel-voiced Mafia kingpin Mario, and Cameron Mitchell as a huffy treasury inspector.
Luchi De Jesus' funky score, Rosalio Solano's slick cinematography (the frequent use of the fish-eye lens is very groovy), Billy Preston's awesomely hip'n'ripping theme song, and a couple of smoking hot interracial love scenes with Brown and Stevens further enhance the overall sterling quality of this on the money solid and satisfying vintage down'n'dirty 70's blaxploitation blast..
Slaughter takes on the mob and turns them out al dente.
Rip Torn is suitably hateful as the Mafia hit man.
Slaughter spends the entire film kicking butt on those cheese suckin', mother ------' mafia racists.
I liked it when Slaughter just sped up to the mafia estate in his Mustang, skidded across the courtyard, let the door fly open, and start shooting.
One dumb scene at the beginning: Slaughter's dad gets blown up by a car bomb.
The next scene, we see Slaughter in the ER waiting room.
Ridiculous to be sure, but also extremely entertaining.
Jim Brown is the title character, a former Green Beret who, after his "connected" father is blown up by a car bomb, exacts his revenge of the mobsters responsible.
This being Jim Brown and a war hero, he has the blessing of the US government.
Rip Torn is a really creepy mobster, Stella Stevens his put upon moll who, naturally, ends up in bed with Brown.
Cameron Mitchell is the government man who ropes Brown in and he wears a really obvious toupee.
Aping SHAFT and SUPERFLY, SLAUGHTER does have a pretty wacky title song (written and performed by the great Billy Preston)..
The real mob is not as stupid as this movie made them out to be.
***SPOILERS*** Predictable blood splattered shoot em up flick with that baddest of all bad dudes Jim Brown in the role of the ex-Green Beret butt-kicker Slaughter who's out to get those who had his parents iced in a flaming car bomb explosion.Sent on a mission by the US Treasury Dept.
to far off Mexico to get the goods on the Felice Mob Slaughter is more then eager to find the man who was responsible for his parents murder but is kept on a short ease, like an out of control pit bull, by A.W Price, Cameron Mitchell, the US Government Agent who sent him there.
It's seems from past experience that Slaughter likes to do things his way, shoot first and ask questions later, which is contrary to US foreign policy as well as doesn't, by putting innocent as well as guilty people in the morgue, make good sense.With beady eyed Harry, Don Godon, as his sidekick Slaughter does a bit of slaughtering himself by taking on the Felice Mob who are in the process of setting up a major drug distribution center south of the border.
Mob Boss Felice played by Norman Alfe in his first and only movie appearance, and from the looks of his ham acting you can see why, is really not that into violence feeling that it's bad for business but his right hand man Hoffo, Rip Torn, a blood thirsty psychopath is.Hoffo with his sour puss face looking like he overdosed on a king size bottle of Tabasco Sauce is also the man who had Slaughter's parents killed.
In that "Pop" Slaughter was in on some kind of deal involving computers that he kept from his boss Mario Felice that was in danger of blowing his entire drug operation.
It's that Hoffo had this done without Felice's authorization that had Slaughter go into action.
That's if Hoffo doesn't get to him first!Jim Brown does it all in "Slaughter" without as much as breaking a sweat.
Besides him doing more then his share of slaughtering the bad guys Brown also finds time to get in on with Hoffo's girlfriend, or better yet sex slave, the blond busty and wide eyed Ann played by Stella Stevens.
Even though he's ordered by his boss A.W Price to hold off the shooting until the calvary, or the US Treasury Agents, arrives Slaughter is so good at his job, of slaughtering, that there was nothing left of the Felice Mob, including Felice himself, by the time they arrived for them to arrest!.
Jim Brown plays a former Green Beret captain named "Slaughter" who is shocked to hear that his parents have been killed by a car bomb.
He then discovers that the reason for this was because his father knew some details about an underworld crime boss named "Mario Felice" (Norman Alfe) and his subordinate, "Dominic Hoffo" (Rip Torn) has taken it upon himself to kill them.
Although the information is rather sketchy, Slaughter decides to take matters into his own hands and kills one of the men he thinks was responsible.
W. Price" (Cameron Mitchell) coerces Slaughter to work for them in exchange for not pressing murder charges against him.
Naturally, Slaughter agrees and he is soon headed to South America to hunt for the person who ordered the hit on his parents.
Anyway, rather than disclosing the rest of the story I'll just say that this was a basic crime-drama which featured plenty of action but other than a couple of interracial love scenes between Jim Brown and Stella Stevens (as Dominic's mistress named "Ann") there really wasn't anything that remarkable about it.
Jim Brown is Slaughter, a guy whose parents are killed in the beginning for no real reason except for brown to become a little vexed and head off to an exotic location.He kills a few people along the way, and then gets to cahoots with Rip Torns woman, who also happen to be the one responsible for killing his parents.Torn is evil through and through, because he treats women like mud, and drinks a lot and gets other people to shoot their friends.....naughty.So slaughter, and a comedy policeman try and take out the mob, while attracting the ladies, and having a funky soundtrack follow them wherever they may go....A pretty straight forward action movie, with a soul cinema twist, Slaughter isn't original in the slightest, but it's so clichéd and hilarious, that it's impossible not to like.Brown is great in his role and Torn does a good bad guy, although he does look like he's on drugs the majority of the time.There are car chases that go on a bit too long, gunfights where the bad guys always miss, and balls that bounce for no reason at all.Some of the camera angles are a little odd, but it all adds to the campness and the cheese of a good action movie.Plus it's the best film ever to feature a scene where the hero knows someone has gone missing just by picking up a towel. |
tt2910274 | Obvious Child | After performing a set at her regular comedy club, Donna Stern (Jenny Slate) is dumped in the bathroom by her boyfriend, Ryan (Paul Briganti), who confesses he is leaving her for one of her friends. Donna tailspins into a wave of depression and later drunkenly delivers a terrible set in which she insults her ex-boyfriend. Later that night, at the bar, she meets Max (Jake Lacy), who is there with clients but who missed her set. Donna and Max have an instant connection and they end up having sex. In the morning Donna leaves Max's apartment without saying goodbye.
Several weeks after their one-night stand, Donna discovers that she is pregnant. Donna visits a Planned Parenthood clinic to schedule an abortion and discovers the only dates available are her mother's birthday and Valentine's Day; she picks Valentine's Day.
Max tracks Donna down at the bookstore where she works and they have the first of several awkward conversations. Donna then runs into Max when he stops by her mother's apartment to return a book to her mother, Nancy (Polly Draper), who is a former professor of his. They have lunch together where Donna is prepared to tell Max about her pregnancy and impending abortion until he makes a comment about how he wants to be a grandfather someday. He comes to Donna's comedy show, but she leaves with another man, Sam (David Cross). She has an awkward evening with Sam and quickly leaves. After her terrible night, Donna visits her mother to talk about her upcoming abortion. Her mother comforts her by telling her that she too had an abortion before Donna was conceived.
After pushing Max away, Donna finally invites him to the club to see her perform. When he arrives she performs a set, speaking about how she is pregnant and planning to have an abortion. Max leaves, but on the day of Donna's abortion, he arrives at her home with flowers and asks if he can accompany her to her procedure. While at the clinic he tells her he supports her, and that when he said that he wanted to be a grandfather, he meant sometime far in the future. The two agree that this is one of the nicest Valentine's Days they have ever had. After the abortion, Max takes Donna to his home where he makes her tea, and then they watch Gone with the Wind together. | romantic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0039512 | Les jeux sont faits | In a country very similar to France under German military occupation, two people are murdered at the same moment. Ève is poisoned by her influential husband, who wants her money and her naïve younger sister, Lucette. Pierre, a worker and a leader of the resistance, is shot by an informer. Meeting in the afterlife, the two fall in love. As they were fated to do so, but prevented by others, they are granted 24 hours back on earth. Their first mission is to do a favour to a dead man who was worried about his young daughter. Then, after brief sex, they address unfinished business. Ève confronts her evil husband and tries to convince her sister of his treachery. Pierre goes to a meeting of resisters and tries to convince them that their organisation is compromised by traitors. The 24 hours are up and most of the time was spent not on enjoying and deepening their relationship, which was often edgy, but on efforts to help others. Back in the afterlife they agree to part. | romantic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0093771 | A Prayer for the Dying | The film begins with a small IRA team, including Martin Fallon (Mickey Rourke) and Liam Docherty (Liam Neeson), watching as two British Army Land Rovers approach the roadside bomb they have set for them. At the last minute, a school bus overtakes the army vehicles and detonates the bomb as it passes, killing the children. After most of the team escape the scene pursued by the soldiers, Fallon travels to London in a bid to escape the past. In London, he is approached by a contact who asks him to take on one last job on behalf of local gangster Jack Meehan (Alan Bates) and his brother Billy Meehan (Christopher Fulford). They offer Fallon money, a passport and passage to the US if he kills a rival gangster. Initially reluctant, he nonetheless takes on the job. However, as he is carrying out the hit in a graveyard, he is seen and confronted by the local Catholic priest, Father Michael Da Costa (Bob Hoskins). The confrontation is watched from a distance by Billy Meehan, who tells his brother there is a witness to the killing.
Fallon visits the church and confesses to the priest in a bid to ensure his silence; he also meets and finds himself becoming attracted to the priest's blind niece Anna (Sammi Davis), who lives at the church along with her uncle. Meehan, however, insists that Fallon must kill the priest too and tells Fallon he will not be paid until the loose end is tied up. Fallon now finds himself targeted by both the Meehans and the IRA, who see him as a security risk following his disappearance, and send Docherty and another member, Siobhan Donovan (Alison Doody), to London to persuade him to return to Ireland. Billy Meehan eventually decides to take matters in his own hands and goes to the church looking for Fallon, but Anna kills him in a struggle when he attacks her after finding her alone in the church house. Fallon meanwhile manages to outwit a group of Meehan's men who had been assigned to kill him after tricking him aboard a boat he was assured would be taking him to the US. Returning to the church, Fallon finds Jack Meehan with a bomb he intends to use to kill the priest and his niece but which will be blamed on Fallon and his IRA connections. After a struggle, Anna and Michael escape, but the bomb goes off killing Meehan and leaving Fallon fatally injured. In his dying moments, Fallon confesses his past to the priest, who grants him absolution. Fallon dies in peace. | violence, revenge, murder, sadist | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0090974 | Dress Gray | Dress Gray is set during the era of the Vietnam War. A new class of cadets arrives at the Ulysses S. Grant Military Academy for its 100th anniversary. Ten months later one of those new cadets, David Hand (Patrick Cassidy), is found dead, apparently drowned despite being a top swimmer. Following an autopsy, academy physician Major Consor (Ron Rifkin) informs the investigating officer, Colonel King (Lane Smith), that Hand was murdered and possibly raped. With the school under public scrutiny in the wake of recent drug and cheating scandals, the commandant, Brigadier General Charles Hedges (Hal Holbrook), initiates a cover-up. Upper classman Rysam Slaight (Alec Baldwin) learns of the cover-up and soon finds himself not only the prime suspect in Hand's murder but also the target of a false honor code violation accusation as well as an independent investigation implemented by Judge Hand (Eddie Albert), Cadet Hand's wealthy and powerful father.
As Slaight seeks to clear his name, he learns that the manipulative Hand was gay and in love with him, a fact David revealed to his sister Elizabeth (Susan Hess), whom Slaight used to date. Elizabeth and Ry rekindle their romance and work together to solve David's murder. They discover that a USGA cadet had visited David's high school on a recruiting trip. David got the cadet drunk, took him to a hotel and took sexual advantage of him.
General Hedges threatens to have Slaight charged with murder, but Slaight counters that he will have the general charged with obstruction of justice. Stymied, the General induces a member of the academy's Honor Court to file a charge of lying against Slaight.
Elizabeth visits the hotel where David took the cadet and the manager signs an affidavit identifying the cadet from his photograph. Over her father's objections, Elizabeth has the affidavit delivered to Ry, who is before the Court. Slaight identifies Cadet Winant as the man who was with David in the hotel and who later raped and killed him.
Slaight is cleared by the Honor Court and reports to Elizabeth that Winant will be locked in a mental institution for a year or two. General Hedges tenders his resignation as Commandant of Students. Slaight plans to resign from the academy but following a talk with Superintendent Axel Rylander (Lloyd Bridges) decides to stay and graduate. | murder, melodrama | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1916728 | Shor in the City | The film revolves around five central characters in the city of Mumbai. Tilak (Tusshar Kapoor) is a small-time publisher of unlicensed books who along with his friends Mandook (Pitobash Tripathy) and Ramesh (Nikhil Dwivedi) kidnaps a famous author and forces him to give the manuscript of his latest book to them so that they will be the first ones to publish it. Abhay (Sendhil Ramamurthy) is a NRI who returns to India to start his own small business and meets Shalmili (Preeti Desai). Sawan (Sundeep Kishan) is a young cricketer hoping to break into the under-22 Mumbai cricket team. The story focuses on their trials and tribulations as they battle life in the city of Mumbai during the chaotic period of the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi.
The film tries to deal with concepts of chance, the constant struggle between hope and despair and self-actualization. The opening of the movie starts with the song "Karma is a bitch" which fits in with the central theme of the story where the characters of the film keep trying to come to terms with their own actions. Abhay has a dark past which is not revealed in the film but it can be speculated that he came to India to stay away from it. Tilak initially holds himself responsible for the injury of the child due to bomb explosion that happens in the movie which brings him closer to his wife and viewing life from a different perspective. The goons who traumatize Abhay eventually end up being shot by their own bullets on the day of Ganesha Visarjan. Tilak gets a new life and finds his treasure at home. Sawan gives up the money he finds at the bank robbery and instead focuses on improving his game for cricket selections and gets support from Sejal(Sawan's partner)too. Ramesh is seen applying for jobs and Mandook protesting at a rally. Towards the end of the movie all characters move on different paths. | revenge | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0077252 | Blue Movie | The film includes dialogue about the Vietnam War, various mundane tasks and, as well, unsimulated sex, during a blissful afternoon in a New York City apartment. The film was presented in the press as, "a film about the Vietnam War and what we can do about it." Warhol added, "the movie is about ... love, not destruction."
Warhol explained that the lack of a plot in Blue Movie was intentional: "Scripts bore me. It's much more exciting not to know what's going to happen. I don't think that plot is important. If you see a movie of two people talking, you can watch it over and over again without being bored. You get involved – you miss things – you come back to it ... But you can't see the same movie over again if it has a plot because you already know the ending ... Everyone is rich. Everyone is interesting. Years ago, people used to sit looking out of their windows at the street. Or on a park bench. They would stay for hours without being bored although nothing much was going on. This is my favorite theme in movie making – just watching something happening for two hours or so ... I still think it's nice to care about people. And Hollywood movies are uncaring. We're pop people. We took a tour of Universal Studios in Los Angeles and, inside and outside the place, it was very difficult to tell what was real. They're not-real people trying to say something. And we're real people not trying to say anything. I just like everybody and I believe in everything."
According to Viva: “The Warhol films were about sexual disappointment and frustration: the way Andy saw the world, the way the world is, and the way nine-tenths of the population sees it, yet pretends they don’t.” | psychedelic, violence | train | wikipedia | null |
tt6478450 | Shatter Me | Shatter Me follows the narrative of Juliette Ferrars, a 17-year-old girl with a paralyzing and killing touch. She can take living organisms' energy. The book starts out with Juliette in an asylum due to the fact that she murdered a small boy three years prior. It is evident that Juliette is partly insane, both from isolation and at horror at herself; she also dreams of a bird. She writes in a small scrap of a notebook to convey her feelings as she has no one to talk to. Soon, she gets a cellmate who goes by the name of Adam Kent. He reminds Juliette of someone, but she convinces herself that it is not possible that Adam is that person. She shows Adam the ways of the asylum, such as not to eat the scalding food immediately, and when the asylum's occupants are allowed to shower. One day, the Reestablishment, a government that has the world within its grasp, comes for Juliette. It is revealed that Adam is a soldier for the leader of Sector 45 of the Reestablishment. The leader of Reestablishment's son, Warner, gives Juliette an offer that includes her being able to get out of the asylum in turn for her torturing any prisoners with her touch. Warner forces Juliette to torture a soldier named Jenkins and a small child through a simulated torture room because she wouldn't touch Warner. During her captivity, Juliette develops a romantic relationship with Adam, and we learn that Adam was Juliette's childhood friend, and is in love with her. We also learn that Adam can touch Juliette without being harmed or killed. Adam eventually helps Juliette escape from Warner, and as they escape, Warner's hand brushes against Juliette's ankle, which shows us that Warner can also touch Juliette without consequence. They meet up with Adam's 10-year-old brother James, at Adam's house. One of Adam's fellow soldiers, Kenji Kishimoto shows up claiming that Warner had him tortured in order to learn Adam and Juliette's whereabouts. Kenji says that he knows a safe place where they can escape, and they formulate a plan. Juliette and Adam split up with Kenji and James. While split up, Adam and Juliette are captured, and Warner shoots Adam.
Warner drags Juliette into an abandoned classroom, and tells Juliette that he might love her. Juliette kisses Warner and seduces him to get his gun from him. She shoots him even though she is surprised by the spark ignited in her. She finds Adam in a slaughterhouse, and they escape. They meet up with Kenji, and James, who Kenji gave sedatives.
At the end of the book, it is revealed that Kenji is a member of the Rebellion against the Reestablishment called Omega Point. Adam, Juliette and James are recruited by, and then join, the Rebellion. | dark | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0053003 | Libel | While traveling in London, Jeffrey Buckenham (Massie), a Canadian Second World War veteran, sees Baronet Sir Mark Sebastian Loddon (Bogarde) on television, leading a tour of his grand family home. Buckenham was held in a German POW camp with Loddon, and while watching him, becomes convinced that he is in fact another former POW, Frank Wellney, an actor (also played by Bogarde) who shared their hut and bore an uncanny resemblance to Loddon. Buckenham writes a letter to a newspaper, publishing his suspicion that Wellney has usurped the young baronet's place.
Loddon sues Buckenham and the newspaper for libel, but his mind is still battered by some terrible incident that occurred during his escape fifteen years before, and he has little memory of that time.
During the trial, Buckenham and Loddon tell their versions of what happened during the war. Buckenham liked Loddon very much and despised Wellney. The three broke out together and headed west in search of the advancing Allied forces. One dark and misty night, having gone without food for days, Buckenham left the others alone to try to steal some from a nearby farm. As he was returning, he heard two shots. He saw one man in Battle Dress lying on the ground, apparently dead, and the other, in civilian clothes, running away. Buckenham was unable to get closer because German soldiers appeared, but Loddon was the one wearing Battle Dress.
Loddon is missing part of a finger on his right hand, just like Wellney, but Loddon claims he was shot in the finger during the escape. Loddon is also missing a childhood scar on his leg. Then there is the fact that Wellney's hair was prematurely white, as is Loddon's now. Buckenham recounts how Wellney was always asking Loddon about his personal life; Loddon even joked that Wellney could pass for him. As the evidence mounts, even Loddon's loyal wife (de Havilland) begins to doubt him.
Hubert Foxley (Hyde-White), the defence barrister, produces a surprise. It turns out that the third man was not dead after all, only wounded. His face was horribly disfigured, his right arm had to be amputated, and his mind had become unhinged. He has been living in a German asylum all this time. Foxley produces the man (and the Battle Dress) in court. The man and Loddon recognise each other.
In desperation, Loddon's barrister, Sir Wilfred (Morley), puts Lady Loddon on the stand, but she testifies that she now believes that her husband is the impostor. That night, Loddon goes for a walk, trying desperately to remember. Finally, his reflection in the canal unlocks his memories. Wellney did try to kill him while his back was turned, but he - Loddon - saw Wellney's reflection in the water and won the struggle. Then he fled from the Germans. In court, he cannot provide any evidence, until he remembers a keepsake he kept hidden in the lining of his Battle Dress: a medallion his then fiancée gave him. He finds it, and wins the case and his wife back. | murder, flashback | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0048527 | Queen Bee | Eva Phillips (Joan Crawford) dominates her Georgia mansion and her husband Avery (Barry Sullivan), an alcoholic mill owner who hates his wife. A cousin, Jennifer Stewart (Lucy Marlow), is pressured into moving in with the family, and she watches in horror as Eva maneuvers to prevent the marriage of Avery's sister Carol (Betsy Palmer) to Judson Prentiss (John Ireland). Carol tells Jennifer to watch out for Eva, and that she read a book about bees and feels that Eva is like a queen bee who stings all her competitors to death. Jennifer refuses to believe such bad sentiments about Eva, and eventually becomes the putative personal assistant to Eva.
That same night, Eva and Jud have a meeting in a darkened room where he tells her that their relationship and anything they had together was over because he is marrying Carol. Eva rejects this and begins to kiss him, but Judson stops kissing her after a few seconds once he realizes that he is falling back into her trap. Meanwhile, Jennifer witnesses this rendezvous from the top of the staircase and is shocked. Jud turns the light on and tells Eva that he is serious, and she warns him that he will ultimately be sorry for refusing her. When Carol and Jud's engagement is announced to Eva, Eva strongly hints at her former affair with Jud, and Carol commits suicide by hanging herself in the barn.
Jennifer and Avery are drawn together and share a furtive kiss when he tells her that he is aware of Eva and Jud's past. Eva senses the developing relationship and increases her malevolent actions, and tells Avery to not interact with Jennifer any longer. When he refuses, she threatens a scandalous divorce in the press. Meanwhile, Jud, still guilty over Carol's death, leaves the house for a few weeks, but comes back one day for work. He finds out from Jennifer that it was really Eva who told Carol about his earlier relationship with Eva, not Avery as he had assumed. Now, for different reasons, both men are determined to avenge it.
Avery changes his attitude completely, and acts as though he is in love with Eva. She changes her attitude and says that she is done being manipulative because her husband finally loves her. However, Jud sees through the charade and confronts Avery that his true motives for being nice to Eva is so that she will trust him enough so that he can kill her. Jud preempts his plan on the night Avery intends to commit murder-suicide and takes Eva driving. When Eva discerns that he wants her dead, she frantically attacks him, resulting in a crash over a cliff, killing them both. Now, Jennifer and Avery are free to love each other. | romantic, melodrama | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0111756 | Wyatt Earp | A teenage Wyatt Earp lives on the family farm. His older brothers, Virgil and James, are away at war serving with the Union Army. Wyatt dreams of war, and packs some belongings, bids his younger brothers and sisters goodbye, and attempts to run away, intending to lie about his age and join the Union Army. He doesn't make it off the farm before his father catches him and forces him to return home. A short while later, both brothers return home at the war's end, with James gravely wounded. Shortly afterwards, the family moves west. It is during this move that Wyatt first sees a man killed, shot during a gunfight. He gets sick at the sight, and vomits.
Years pass, finding him working out west as a wagon driver. During his time there, he works also as a referee for fights, and finds himself at odds with a bully. Wyatt and the bully eventually come to the point of fighting, with the bully intending to shoot Wyatt. Wyatt disarms him and defeats him, taking his gun as a trophy.
Returning home to Missouri, Wyatt marries a childhood sweetheart, Urilla Sutherland. The two move into their own house, and he begins working as a policeman. Months later, while pregnant, his wife dies from Typhoid fever. He stays by her side throughout the illness, becoming deeply depressed afterward. He burns their home and all they own, begins drinking, and drifting from town to town, eventually landing in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He robs a man and steals his horse, but is captured a short time later. With Wyatt facing certain hanging, his father bails him out of jail, telling him to leave and never return to Arkansas.
He begins working as a buffalo hunter, where he meets Bat Masterson and his brother Ed Masterson. The three become friends and work together hunting buffalo, with the two brothers working as Wyatt's skinners. Years pass, and he begins working as a Deputy Marshal in Wichita, Kansas, and builds a reputation as a good lawman. He is recruited to work as a deputy in Dodge City, with a lower salary, but for extra money for each arrest made, in the end making more than he would have in Wichita. In Dodge City he builds a hard reputation, and he kills his first man, a shooting witnessed by actress Josie Marcus. Wyatt becomes involved romantically with a prostitute, Mattie Blaylock, and the Mastersons begin working with him as deputies. Wyatt disagrees with Ed Masterson working as a lawman, believing him to be too passive. However, the Dodge City council decides that Ed is more acceptable than Wyatt due to the latter's excessive force, and fires him, appointing Ed to take his place. Wyatt then begins working for the railroad, capturing outlaws.
While pursuing outlaw Dave Rudabaugh, he is introduced to gunman and gambler Doc Holliday, in Fort Griffin, Texas, and the two become friends. Holliday assists Earp in locating Rudabaugh, whom he dislikes tremendously. Shortly afterward, Wyatt receives word that Ed Masterson has been killed, having shot and killed both his assailants before dying in the street. Wyatt returns to Dodge City to help bring law and order. After working there for a while, he and his family move to Tombstone, Arizona, under the protest of the Earp wives, and Mattie. Wyatt immediately finds himself at odds with the "Cowboy" gang. He meets and becomes romantically involved with Josie Marcus, which puts him at odds with her boyfriend, Sheriff Behan. This relationship also causes stress in his relationship with Mattie, and becomes the subject of rumor about town.
Wyatt and his brothers Morgan and Virgil arrest several Cowboys, and Virgil takes over as marshal following the murder of town marshal Fred White. The brothers find themselves at odds with the Cowboys often, and tension builds. Wyatt breaks up several altercations involving the Cowboys, particularly Ike Clanton (Jeff Fahey), and Doc Holliday swears his loyalty to Wyatt, whom he considers his only real friend. Eventually the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral occurs, with the brothers becoming very unpopular in town. Virgil is ambushed and wounded, and Morgan is killed. The film then shows only a glimpse of the Vendetta Ride with Wyatt and his friends taking out revenge on the remaining "Cowboys", and then skips to many years later with him and Josie mining for gold in Alaska. While en route by boat, a young man on the same boat recognizes Wyatt, and recounts a story in which Wyatt had saved the boy's uncle, "Tommy Behind-The-Deuce". Wyatt says to Josie, "Some people say it didn't happen that way", to which she responds "Never mind them, Wyatt. It happened that way."
An epilogue states that Doc Holliday died six years later in a hospital in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Members of the Clanton gang continued to die mysteriously for years after Morgan's murder. Josie's and Wyatt's marriage lasted forty-seven years until Wyatt died at age 80 in Los Angeles. | cult, historical, murder, violence, flashback | train | wikipedia | When his replacement is killed as the law falls away in Dodge, Wyatt returns before moving on to Tombstone but finds his initial run-in with the Clantonhas left harbouring resentments.When I saw this in the cinema, it was hassled by the fact that another, more multiplex-friendly version of the story had just been released shortly before.
This means on one hand that we get a good picture over Wyatt's life as opposed to the events in Tombstone, however it also means that the film itself is a little dull and overlong.
The support cast is deep and includes faces such as Hackman, Fahey, Harmon, Pullman, Sizemore, Rossellini, Williams and O'Hara.Overall this is a film that requires patience - if you prefer your films to contain action more than story then Tombstone may be more for you - but, for all it's failings, this is still a solid western and a good telling of the legend with more emphasis on background than action and fluidity..
To do this, it looks at Earp's life in two stages: his life before, and after, a major transition.Contrary to what some may think, Kevin Costner does a very good job portraying the lawman.
His character experiences a wealth of emotion, but the script is so well written that Costner does not need to stretch himself to portray Earp effectively.The film comes together so well because of an excellent musical score, visually stunning cinematography, and strong acting by the supporting characters.
The direction by Kasdan is quite low-key, allowing the viewer to be drawn into the story, rather than simply showing it to us.I recommend this film to anyone who enjoys epic stories, wonderful acting (particularly Dennis Quaid, although Tom Sizemore and Michael Madsen are excellent as well), and visually compelling shots.
WYATT EARP, the second of the epic films about the legendary lawman released between 1993-94, lacked the commercial values that made TOMBSTONE successful, but was a far riskier film, with higher aspirations.
Writer/Director Lawrence Kasdan, whose previous Western, SILVERADO (1985), had paid homage to Hollywood's Western clichés, wanted, with WYATT EARP, to cut through the myths, and create a film that would honestly examine an all-too-human Earp's life in the 'real' West, set against vistas of that were nearly overpowering in their immense size and beauty.
Unfortunately, the result was a mixed bag; while the film is beautiful to look at (with one of the most majestic film scores of recent years, composed by James Newton Howard), the characters (with the exception of Dennis Quaid's 'Doc Holiday') lack charisma, with Kevin Costner's portrayal of Earp so flat that it is difficult to arouse much interest in him (it would be nearly ten years before he finally 'got it right', in OPEN RANGE).
The film ultimately comes across as overblown and overlong, with it's memorable moments nearly lost amid panoramic views of the West.I still think, however, that WYATT EARP has a few redeeming qualities which make it worth viewing.
It is ironic that his performance had to follow TOMBSTONE's flamboyant 'Doc', Val Kilmer, who created such an over-the-top, audience-friendly character, that Quaid's more realistic portrayal would be forgotten.Another reason to watch WYATT EARP is it's presentation of the infamous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and it's aftermath.
With the exception of John Sturges' HOUR OF THE GUN, no Westerns before TOMBSTONE and WYATT EARP had told the full story of the events, from the brief but deadly shootout, through the subsequent murder trial against the Earps, and Ike Clanton's vengeance, afterwards, resulting in Morgan Earp's murder, and Virgil Earp being crippled for life.
the rest are just strangers," speaks Wyatt's father at the beginning of the film--the most important line perhaps in the movie, with the exception of Wyatt's own at the end "Some say it didn't happen that way," commenting upon a flashback recounting his brand of law and justice in the wild cattle town of Dodge City.I wholeheartedly admit the film is long--but so are many other great films.
Unlike the more popular "Tombstone," this Earp story has a lot less profanity and almost no usage of the Lord's name in vain....but there is rough language and some crude sexual remarks, so don't watch it with the kiddies.At rate, the movie is a lot better than the critics would have you believe.
Nevertheless, "Wyat Earp" is a laudable effort and well worth the time to sit through its three hours and fifteen minutes running time.The performances were uniformly good, with a skeletal Dennis Quade particularly fine as the doomed Doc Holliday.
In fact, I thought that Quade's funny and moving performance as Doc Holliday was in the same class as Val Kilmer's portrayal of the same character in "Tombstone." The women playing the Earp wives, Catherine O'Hara, JoBeth Williams, Mare Winningham, and Betty Buckley, were also very effective.
The life and legend of Earp and his family proves very interesting, although taking a back seat to the film TOMBSTONE.Kevin Coster does a good job as the famed lawman, but seems a little less powerful compared to the image of Earp in our minds.
Other fine performances are logged in by Mark Harmon, Catherine O'Hara, Gene Hackman, Bill Pullman, Michael Madsen, Tom Sizemore, Tea Leoni, Martin Kove and Joanna Going.Maybe a half hour too long, but this movie is more than your average western.
It emerges as dull, bloated, uneven and about as truthful as many other pictures of this famous lawman with added overbearing score by James Newton Howard.Kevin Costner looks uneasy playing the younger Wyatt as an overgrown boy scout getting daily lectures on the importance of family by dad, Gene Hackman.After the sudden death of his first wife, what gradually emerges is a cold hard man who enforces the law his way, that way being by the barrel of the gun with his brothers as fellow enforcers.Director Lawrence Kasdan is shackled by Costner wanting to be the star of the show.
The actors playing the brothers Earp do not get much of a look in as they are in the shadows of Costner, their wives come across more forcefully as they stand up to Wyatt for putting their husbands in danger.
As his reputation as a good lawman grows, he is offered a job in Dodge City along with his brothers Virgil (Michael Madsen) and Morgan (Linden Ashby), where his reputation starts to take a turn for the worse.After the huge success of Dances With Wolves, this film seems to take a similar approach - epic, sweeping storytelling as opposed to the more action-packed angle usually taken when filming an Earp biography.
He can do brooding very well, and even though Wyatt Earp is portrayed as a complete bastard, with Costner playing him he remains an engaging character.Even with all the star actors on show - Madsen, Hackman, Bill Pullman, Tom Sizemore, Jim Caviezel, Jeff Fahey, Isabella Rossellini, Catherine O'Hara, and the excellent Dennis Quaid as Doc Holliday, the film does begin to drag.
Personally, the definitive Wyatt Earp film is John Ford's magnificent My Darling Clementine, and although it may not have the historical accuracy of this, it is a typically mystical, moving, and surprisingly dark masterpiece, featuring a great Henry Fonda performance.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com.
Unfortunately for him, the absolute best on screen Doc is Val Kilmer in the rival Wyatt Earp film, Tombstone.
Kevin Costner is excellent as Wyatt and also Dennis Quaid as Doc Holliday.
In Tombstone, we have Kurt Russell (Earp), Val Kilmer (Doc) and Stephen Lang (Ike Clanton) with Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton as the Earp brothers, Powers Boothe as an unredeemable Curly Bill Brocius and Michael Biehn as the deadly Johnny Ringo.Actors who played Earp include Henry Fonda ("My Darling Clementine"), Hugh O'Brien ("Wyatt Earp" TV series), Burt Lancaster ("Gunfight at OK Corral"), James Garner ("Hour of the Gun"), and Kurt Russell ("Tombstone").
For my tastes, the best Earp was Hugh O'Brien on the TV series, followed by Kurt Russell ("Tombstone") whom I think was the more realistic Earp.Actors who played Doc Holiday include Victor Mature who played a wonderful coughing Doc Holiday ("My Darling Clementine") as does Dennis Quaid in this film.
Val Kilmer ("Tombstone"), Kirk Douglas ("Gunfight at OK Corral"), Jason Robards ("Hour of the Gun"), and Douglas Fowley ("Wyatt Earp" TV series) also played Doc. Val Kilmer is my favorite Doc Holiday, though I am partial to TV's Douglas Fawley.Old Man Clanton was played savagely by Walter Brennan ("My Darling Clementine") but otherwise rarely shown.
"Wyatt Earp" had Kevin Costner (Earp), Dennis Quaid (Doc), and Jeff Fahey (Ike Clanton) along with a host of women who played the Earp's extended family.
this movie is quite a bit different than 1993's Tombstone.obviously it focuses on Wyatt Earp,more than anything.this movie paints quite a different picture of Earp than Tombstone does.it depicts him in a much different light.Kevin Costner's portrayal of Earp is much different than Kurt Russel's in Tombstone.i think i liked Russel's portrayal a bit more.Dennis Quaid portrays Doc Holliday,and his portrayal is much different than Val Kilmer's in Tombstone.i actually liked Val Kilmer's performance better,and i liked his character more.Quaid does a good job though.the supporting cast is also very good.another big difference between this movie and Tombstone,is that this movie is very deliberately paced,and more in depth.the story is much deeper.there is not that much action,and some may be turned of by the length of the movie at over 3hrs.but if you can view it as character study,you might enjoy it.one thing i really liked rising the musical score.i found it very rousing and poetic.for me,Wyatt Earp is a 7/10.
The movie brings not only the story of the life and times of Wyatt Earp, but also in showing you the events that led up to the beginning of the end of the Wild West.Any Wild West history buff will enjoy watching and understanding how the puzzle of the Old West fits into becoming a building block of our great nation.This movie will remain as one of my best loved movies..
A lengthy biopic about Wyatt Earp, this splendid film tackles the problem of telling the story of an actual man's life, and does it well.People do not live like Hollywood films in that our lives have no plot.
And his life kept right on trucking after that.Good performances all around, although I did not believe anyone gave the performance of their career.Often this movie is compared to another film, Tombstone.
I tried, but it was pretty impossible to root for Kevin Costner in this movie, and if you're not rooting for the hero, you've got a very long three hours in store for you.My favorite version of this story is 1957's Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
Dennis Quaid's portrayal of Doc Holliday is something to behold.The remainder of the cast is pretty amazing for the names involved, some of which weren't stars yet and/or had very minor roles - Gene Hackman, Mark Harmon, Bill Pullman, Michael Madsen, Jeff Fahey, Isabella Rossellini, Tom Sizemore, Mare Winningham, Tea Leoni.So much potential wasted..
Although Wyatt Earp was authentic,I preferred Tombstone,as it portrayed more of the actual violence and pathos in the old west.Kurt Russell did a better job of portraying Wyatt Earp,as Sam Elliot,Powers Boothe,Michael Behin,and especially Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday.I am a real aficionado of the old west,and Tombstone was one of the best westerns ever made.Kevin Costner just does not seem to grasp the roles he is given and his portrayal of Wyatt Earp was really limp.And Dennis Quaid seemed like he wished he were somewhere else,Gene Hackman should have been in Tombstone,because he was wasted in Wyatt Earp,as was most of the other actors.Even "The Hour Of The Gun" with James Garner was Better,and it was made in 1967..
This movie relates more to Wyatt Earp's life compared to Tombstone, which is more on the gunfights and conflict.
The acting is nothing but subpar; and like my title says, if you want a wyatt earp story, watch Tombstone.
Eventually it culminates into the legendary gunfight at the OK Corral with Doc Holliday (Dennis Quaid).Kevin Costner is fine as a younger Wyatt still searching for a direction.
Director Lawrence Kasdan does a good job filming the movie but this long biopic will always have problems.
Wyatt Earp is a more ambitious film, and it clearly looks to pay more attention to real historical accounts, In the end however, it just isn't paced that well, and it lacks the action that Tombstone delivers consistently.Kevin Costner is quite good as Wyatt Earp.
This epic and beautifully shot western is one of Costner's best films.Following the life of legendary law man Wyatt Earp, this very underrated movie pictures the 'real' man with the 'legend' and gives viewers' a chance to decide for themselves what type of man Earp really was.
Rather than focusing totally on the OK Corral, there is an emphasis on the events prior to Tombstone that molded Wyatt Earp.This is one of the few Western movies I've seen where you get a feel for how it actually might have been to live in that time.
As for the other actors, they are all outstanding with Dennis Quaid in particular turning in a great performance as Doc Halladay.A lot of people have commented on this movie and Tombstone.
I loved Kurt Russel and Val Kilmer as the movie's center pieces, Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday respectively.
Then there is the much debated arguement over who plays a better Doc Holliday, Val Kilmer in Tombstone, or Dennis Quaid in Wyatt Earp.
Dennis Quaid (ENEMY MINE) was, historically, a better Doc. Costner's (PERFECT WORLD) Wyatt Earp was outstanding.
Kevin Costner has made an entertaining and intelligent movie that seeks to tell people the real story about what happened in Tombstone..
Continuing my plan to watch every Kevin Costner movie in order, I come to Wyatt Earp, his second movie from 1994.It's impossible to talk about this movie without mentioning Tombstone, simply because it was released six months before, and focused on the only part of Earps life people care to know about.
The subject is the whole life span of Wyatt Earp, and is a much more serious movie than the flashier Hollywood pleasing characters portrayed in Tombstone.
However, at the end of the day Wyatt Earp is still a very good movie.
Kevin Costner did a great job here as Wyatt Earp delivering a very good and believable well rounded performance.
It's almost like they were using the same acting coach, but Dennis Quaid in this film and Val Kilmer in Tombstone which came out roughly the same time turn in virtually identical performances as the murderous and tubercular Doc Holiday.
Within the next decade and a half, I predict one if not more films will be made to once again interpret the character and events of the life and legend of Wyatt Earp..
When comparing "Tombstone" to "Wyatt Earp", I have to say that they are both good films, although "Wyatt Earp" has many points that overpower "Tombstone".First of all, we have a great cast of talented actors including Kevin Costner, Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman, Michael Madsen, Mark Harmon, Jeff Fahey, Joanna Going, Tom Sizemore, and Bill Pullman.
The film's main score is also memorable.Of course, the one thing that "Tombstone" definitely beats "Wyatt Earp" by is action and entertainment.
I agree with a lot of criticism about the movie, but still I was shocked at how WYATT EARP paled next to TOMBSTONE when they came out around the same time.
But I think both films give a good overview of Wyatt Earp and seen to be consistent with the true story of the legend.
If I was to pick a favourite I would probably say Wyatt Earp payed by Kevin Costner is probably the better as this film goes back into what made the man, whereas tombstone is about his time in tombstone.
There are many good actors in this movie like Michael Madsen and Tom Sizemore yet only Dennis Quaid's Doc Holliday was memorable.
The movie Tombstone, while very action packed, is nothing more than a "cartoon" depiction of the story of Wyatt Earp.
Kevin Costner's Wyatt Earp and Dennis Quaid's Doc Holliday Should not be overlooked.
and in doing so tell us a story of Wyatt Earp the man that goes beyond Tombstone..
Obviously the most accurate and realistic movie regarding the life and times of Wyatt Earp.
It is an enjoyable and entirely watchable movie, but is more about how good Kurt Russell,Val Kilmer, and Sam Elliot look in those long black coats and black pants.It is a Hollywood version, portraying Wyatt Earp as what we would like our heroes to be.Kevin Costner's Wyatt Earp on the other hand is a movie about exactly what it purports to be--the life and character of the man.
It is an epic version of the important events in Earp's life that shaped the man, and should not be confused or compared with other movies (no matter how great!) that center on 15 seconds in history.Tombstone vs.
Performances are good, especially from Dennis Quaid as Doc Holliday, Kevin Costner was a bit bland in some of the scenes with his first wife but generally he was good also.It is lengthy, my copy of the film involves turning the disk over half way through, but it is a biopic that chooses to document Wyatt's life as a lawman right from Wichita to Tombstone and in great detail as well.
Most of the movie and dialogue was top of the notch excellent but it got a tad bit boring.Overall this movie was very cool and I thought that it depicted Wyatt Earp's life well and Kevin Costner and Dennis Quaid are awesome.
There have been many movies that have been made about the life of Wyatt Earp and the events that he was a part of in the Historic West.
Overall, the movie did an excellent job in portraying Wyatt Earp the man, not the legend. |
tt0280052 | El pueblo fantasma | The film begins as married New York City businessman Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear) is accidentally killed while trying to buy an apartment for his mistress. Shortly afterward, cynical dentist Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) has a near-death experience while under general anesthetic during a colonoscopy. When he recovers, he is able to see and communicate with ghosts who populate the area. The ghosts annoy Bertram by asking him to help them with personal business that was left unfinished when they died. Frank promises to keep the other ghosts away if Bertram will break up an engagement between Frank's widow Gwen (Leoni), a professional Egyptologist, and Richard (Billy Campbell), a human-rights lawyer who Frank says is dishonest. Bertram eventually agrees to the deal and tries to woo Gwen away from Richard. Bertram's past rudeness to Gwen makes this difficult, but he attracts her interest by analyzing the teeth of a mummified Egyptian Pharaoh that she has been studying.
When Bertram has dinner with Gwen and Richard, he decides that Richard is not as bad as Frank claimed, but Bertram himself begins to fall in love with Gwen, and she enjoys Bertram's sense of humor. At another dinner, Gwen reveals that she learned of Frank's mistress the day he died, and when Richard visits Bertram for some dental work, Bertram drugs him with laughing gas in order to make him reveal that Gwen has broken their engagement. Frank doesn't understand why he is still on Earth if his "unfinished business" was to break up Richard and Gwen.
Gwen, not being engaged to Richard any longer, says yes to a work proposal that would send her to the Valley of the Kings in Egypt for six months. As a going-away present, Bertram gets her a new key chain from a fancy jeweler's, as she had earlier mentioned that she desperately needed one. But when he mistakenly reveals information about Gwen that only Frank could have known, she demands the truth, and Bertram tells her the whole story about the ghosts. Gwen doesn't believe him and demands to know what Frank's worst nightmare was. Frank lies to Bertram, telling him a fake nightmare, and Gwen, thinking that Bertram has been lying to her and playing some kind of game, walks away and cuts him off. Bertram demands to know why Frank lied to him about the nightmare, and Frank points out that Bertram only cares about his own needs.
Bertram sinks into a depression and asks a fellow dentist (Aasif Mandvi), for medication that will help him forget Gwen. His colleague instead convinces him that his life would be better if he decided to stop being selfish and start helping people. Bertram begins helping the ghosts around him with their "unfinished business" on Earth, bringing comfort to people they left behind and enabling the ghosts to depart. As he does this he realizes that the ghosts were still on Earth not because they had unfinished business, but because the people they were close to were not finished with them. He begins to appreciate life and the people he encounters.
Bertram realizes that the reason Frank cannot leave is that Gwen has not let go of him yet. He confronts Gwen who asks him to ask Frank why she wasn't enough for him, and Frank says he's sorry for hurting her, which Bertram tells Gwen. Gwen is incredulous that after his infidelity, all Frank would have to say was 'sorry' and thinks that Bertram is making it all up. He rushes after her and while trying to persuade her to believe him, gets hit by a bus. Bertram, now a ghost himself, watches with Frank as people crowd around his body and Gwen sobs over him. Richard arrives on his way to the reception and tries to revive Bertram with prayer and CPR. Seeing how distraught Gwen is, Frank gives Bertram 'some advice' that will be useful in case he is resuscitated, and tells him that Gwen's tears are for Bertram, in other words she loves him. After saying this, Frank is finally allowed to leave the earthly plane.
Bertram wakes up alive in the hospital. Later Gwen, who needs dental work, comes in for an appointment with another dentist but finds Bertram's office to say hello. Bertram tells Gwen of Frank's real nightmare—that of losing his way home, which was the advice Frank told him, and then assures her that Frank has 'found his way home.' The movie ends with Gwen saying, "It hurts when I smile", to which Bertram replies "I can fix that for you". | revenge | train | wikipedia | A mad Mexican mix of western cliché and vampire lore. A mysterious gunslinger called the Rio Kid appears out of nowhere to kill any hombre foolish enough to boast that he's the fastest draw in the Mexican west and Texan, the son of an infamous bandido, sets out to track down the phantom and redeem his family's honor. Joining him on his quest are Nestor, an old-timer seeking revenge after doing a long prison stretch because of the Kid and the Rivero brothers, who want to make a name for themselves as gunfighters. They converge on San Jose, a ghost town held in a grip of fear by the Kid, and soon find out they're up against the supernatural...These atmospheric, black and white antics are a classic example of south-of-the-border insanity, an outré blend of Western clichés and vampire lore. The Rio Kid is a handsome black-clad devil two centuries old who tracks down trigger-happy outlaws so he can drink their blood (thus ingesting their prowess) and is something of a frightful folk hero (he even saves a gypsy girl from rape) until the few remaining townspeople discover the awful truth. Some plot threads wouldn't have been out of place in a straight western, including the romantic rivalry between Texan, a hero-in-the-making who has to live down accusations of cowardice, and the fiancé of Nestor's daughter as well as the timeless themes of revenge and the reclamation of a town under the thumb of a bad man. There's also quite a few Universal horror clichés as well: the tavern on the edge of town is full of superstitious locals warning strangers not to go out at night and the Kid, who can change into a bat at will, rises from his cemetery crypt nightly and can't see his reflection in a mirror. His fangs hang down to his chin when feeding and there's silver bullets, stakes through the heart, and a gypsy wagon with an old blind man whose dancing daughter falls under the vampire's spell as well. There's also a song, "The Ballad Of Manuel Saldivar", that's sung throughout the movie and it makes Texan very upset whenever he hears it because it's about his father -he single-handedly beats up a mariachi band who plays it and almost has a breakdown when the gypsy girl does a rendition. The movie plays -and looks- like a DESTRY-themed episode of GUNSMOKE with a vampire and it's a most amusing way to spend an hour-and-a-half, that's for sure. |
tt0066952 | Count Yorga, Vampire | The scenario opens with narration about superstition and the abilities of vampires. A truck is loaded at the Port of Los Angeles, and as it climbs to a gated mansion in the Southern California hills, the cargo is revealed to be a coffin.
Donna (Donna Anders) hosts a séance in hopes of contacting her recently deceased mother. At the party are several of her friends and Count Yorga (Robert Quarry), a mysterious Bulgarian mystic who performs the séance. Donna becomes hysterical during the proceedings, and Yorga uses hypnosis to calm her. After the party is over, Erica (Judy Lang) and her boyfriend Paul (Michael Murphy) offer to drive the Count home. Not long after the three leave, in the after-party conversation with friends, Donna reveals that she knows Yorga from being her mother's boyfriend. Adding that the two were dating a few weeks shortly before her death and in fact, Yorga had insisted that her mother be buried rather than cremated as she originally requested in the event of death. Yet oddly, she can't recall seeing him at her mother's funeral. Meanwhile, Erica and Paul drop off Yorga at his home. However, their van gets stuck in the mud outside of Yorga's mansion (although Paul notices the road was dry a minute ago), and the two resign themselves to spend the night in their van. Yorga watches the couple make love, then attacks them, revealing himself to be a vampire. The following day, Paul tells Michael, Donna's boyfriend, about the attack. Paul didn't see their attacker, and Erica doesn't remember the attack at all.
Erica visits Dr. Hayes to have the mysterious bite wounds on her neck inspected. In contrast to her exuberant personality on the night before, Erica now seems despondent and listless. Hayes notices she has lost a lot of blood. Unable to diagnose the cause, he recommends rest and a high protein diet. Not shortly after Paul and Michael discuss the strange changes in Erica's behavior. They try to check in on her via phone but she just drops the phone to the floor without answering it. The concerned men then drive to her home where they find the place in disarray, and a hysterical Erica eating her pet kitten. She reacts erratically to their presence, first threatening them with violence and then attempting to seduce Paul before coming to her senses and breaking down. They restrain her and call Dr. Hayes (Roger Perry), who begins an emergency blood transfusion. Erica babbles incoherently, apparently afraid of something, begging Paul to forgive her and even kill her, but when asked of what has her scared, she state she doesn't know. Meanwhile, Yorga awakens in his manor and heads to his basement which has been converted into a throne room where his two vampiric-brides lie on slabs. One of them is shown to be Donna's mother (Marsha Jordan) whom he had drained, made into an undead servant, and dug up her body after she was buried. He awakens the two and watches as they have sex, presumably using his powers of mind-control to force them to do so.
Although Michael is skeptical, the three men consider the possibility of vampirism as an excuse for Erica's behavior. That night, Yorga visits Erica while Paul sleeps downstairs. Promising her immortality, he drains Erica of her blood and takes her back to his manor to add Erica as his third vampire bride. Paul, upon finding Erica missing, rashly goes to Yorga's mansion to rescue her. Yorga easily kills him by choking him to death, then having his servant, Brudah (Edward Walsh) break his back. Michael alerts Hayes that Paul has gone to the mansion, and Hayes confides that Paul's lack of preparation will probably lead to his death. While mulling over his options, Hayes' girlfriend suggests involving the police, citing an eerily similar case of a baby being found in the woods, drained of its blood with bite wounds on the neck. He takes it to heart and calls the police, but is rejected as a deluded prankster following a recent rash of such calls. Hayes, Michael, and Donna go to the mansion themselves to inquire about Paul's whereabouts and keep Yorga active until sunrise. While Hayes distracts Yorga with enthusiastic questions about Yorga's occult experiments, Brudah rebuffs Michael's attempts to explore the mansion. Michael and Hayes switch places to keep Yorga off his guard, but Yorga becomes increasingly insistent that it is late and his guests must leave. Yorga distracts Hayes and strengthens his hypnotic control over Donna.
After leaving the manor, Hayes convinces Michael that killing Yorga will not be easy: vampires have greater strength and the wisdom that comes from living much longer than a "mere mortal". He also grimly adds they might have to kill Paul and Erica too if they have become vampires, since the people they were are dead and are now nothing but monsters loyal only to Yorga. They plan to attack later that afternoon. Michael and Donna rest while Hayes studies vampire lore until he too falls asleep. Yorga awakens Donna telepathically and summons her to the mansion. On her arrival, Brudah rapes her. Michael oversleeps because Donna sabotaged the alarm clock, and it's nearly evening when he calls to awaken Hayes. They stock up on stakes and makeshift crosses before heading to Yorga's mansion as night falls. They split up, and Hayes is confronted by Yorga. Both drop the pretense that Yorga is anything but a vampire, and Yorga leads Hayes into his basement where his vampire-brides lie dormant. Hayes finds Erica's body among them, finding to his horror, that she now has no pulse or heartbeat. He attacks Yorga with cross and stake, while yelling out for Michael (who hears Hayes and begins to run in the direction of his call). Yorga is irritated by Hayes' cross and taunts the doctor as he silently commands his brides to awaken. With Hayes' back to the approaching brides and his attention fixed on Yorga, the brides attack and drain the helpless Hayes.
Yorga reunites Donna with her mother. Michael finds Paul's mutilated body while navigating the crypt. Brudah attacks him, but Michael stabs him, presumably to death. Michael manages to reach the throne room but find Hayes as he lays dying from bite wounds and blood loss. With his last breath, Hayes tells Michael where Donna is. Just as he does, Erica, now a vampire and completely under Yorga's control, and an unnamed, red-headed vampire charge into the room. Michael fends them off, chasing away the red-head while Erica pauses, giving Michael a chance to stake her. Despite seeing she is no longer the Erica he knows, he can't bring himself to do so, and proceeds upstairs while she hisses at him. On the way to the staircase, Brudah emerges from the living room, holding his profusely bleeding knife wound, intent on attacking Michael. Michael, somewhat stunned that Brudah is still alive, moves up the staircase as Brudah reaches out for him. Brudah then collapses, finally dying. Upstairs, Michael confronts Yorga and Donna's mother. Yorga pushes Donna's mother into Michael's stake and flees. Michael follows, and Yorga ambushes him outside the room. Michael rams the charging Yorga with his stake, killing him. Donna mourns her mother a second time before Michael collects her. He and Donna watch Yorga turn to dust.
As they start to leave, they are confronted by Erica and the red-headed bride who, despite Yorga's death, still remain as vampires. They chase Michael and Donna downstairs until repelled by Michael's cross. As the vampire women are forced back and toward a cellar, Erica glances ominously at Donna. Michael locks them in and takes Donna's hand, believing the danger is over. However, as he turns to leave, Donna hisses and lunges at him, fangs bared, fully transformed into a vampire. He was too late to prevent Yorga from turning her.
In a final line of voice-over, the narrator sarcastically disputes that vampirism is just superstition as he laughs evilly. The film ends on a shot of Michael's bloodied and lifeless corpse. | murder | train | wikipedia | The rest of the cast is adequate, and I think Roger Perry does a wonderful job as a blood specialist who goads Count Yorga one evening into talking about the supernatural.
Soon after, we meet Count Yorga (Robert Quarry), as he conducts a séance to try to contact Donna's (Donna Anders) deceased mother.
It is no mystery, due to the title of the film, that he is a vampire.Although Count Yorga, Vampire is a bit talky in the beginning, the dialogue is good, and it gets even better as the film progresses.
The rest of the film is a very effective mixture of action and clever, dialogue-heavy scenes.Count Yorga, Vampire is one of the earlier attempts to place a Dracula-like figure in a modern setting.
We certainly couldn't say that the film has no flaws, but for many viewers, including me, there are qualities to this film that enable it to rise above the flaws, and it ends up as a 10 out of 10 for me.One of the most effective elements of the film is the extensive hand-held camera work, which in combination with early 1970s film stocks and processing techniques gives Count Yorga, Vampire an atmosphere akin to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974).
The difference is that the focus here is a suave, debonair vampire living in a beautiful mansion, surrounded by beautiful vampire-women.For my money, Quarry is as good a "Dracula" as anyone who has played the role, including Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee. There is also a Renfield-like character here in Brudah (Edward Walsh).
Count Yorga (Robert Quarry), a vampire, comes from Bulgaria to 1970 Los Angeles and starts making a coven of beautiful female vampires.
We soon find out that Count Yorga is one of the most blood-thirsty and ruthless vampires we've seen on screen in years.
Robert Quarry makes your blood run cold as the modern day Count Dracula, and Roger Perry is driven and pretty funny as Dr. Hayes, the modern day Dr. Van Helsing.
You have to know what you're in for when you sit down to watch a movie like "Count Yorga." Leave your expectations of lavish special effects, intricate plotting, and deep character development at the door.
He plays the best kind of vampire suave and smart and friendly, until of course he decides to dispatch his opponents with almost animal savagery.There are some memorably horrifying moments, including the infamous cat scene and Roger Perry's final confrontation with Yorga in the crypt.
Bob Kelljan's "Count Yorga,Vampire" is an effective horror film which has plenty of suspense and atmosphere.Robert Quarry("Madhouse")is simply outstanding as a deadly vampire Count Yorga and there are some sexy vampiresses.The film may be a little too tame for some people's tastes,but there is enough thrills to satisfy horror fans.Highly recommended..
While only a nut would compare this to the greatness of Dracula or NOSFERATU, it still is a decent example of the franchise.Before talking about the plot, there was something odd I noticed and that was how sexy the film was and it looked, at times, like it was a soft-core porno movie.
As a result, the film is still quite sexy--but also one you could probably still let your teens watch.Iorga/Yorga lives in the Los Angeles area in a house that looks more like a castle than a house.
Soon, it also becomes rather obvious that the Count is a heterosexual vampire--with strong desires for the three women but only a desire to kill off the men.Many elements are taken from Dracula--even including a Dr. Helsing-like character.
Yet, the movie has a lot going for it as well, like the capable direction and writing of Bob Kelljan, the certain charm that the overall look of the movie has, despite the low budget, and some creepy and disturbing scenes like the woman who, after being bitten by Yorga, decides that eating her cat is a good way to get some iron.
But the thing that really makes the movie so good is Robert Quarry's performance as Count Yorga.
In Los Angeles, a group of friends of Donna (Donna Anders) reunites for a séance conducted by Count Yorga (Robert Quarry) to make contact with Donna's mother, who has recently died and was having a love affair with the Yorga.
Dr. James 'Jim' Hayes (Roger Perry), who is a family friend, sees Erica drinking the blood of a cat and he believes that Count Yorga is a vampire.
Count Yorga, Vampire, I remember seeing this movie as a kid and it scared the heck out of me.
Count Yorga is one of those films that came from the 70's, in my opinion, a very sexy vampire film, sort of soft core in some ways.
Count Yorga, her mother's boyfriend, is a mysterious man who never shows up during the day time and is a bit suspicious ever since all the girls keep disappearing when he came into the group's lives.
But the guys are on a journey to get their women back, but it's gonna be hard when they find out that they are dealing with vampires.Count Yorga is a fun horror flick to watch at midnight, I have to admit it still sometimes sends a little chill down my spine.
As played by Robert Quarry, he is quite creditable and effectively gave Christopher Lee (Hammer Film's Dracula incarnate) a run for his money.Incidentally, he anticipated the other Count's transition to modern times by 2 years and actually managed it a whole lot better (with, thankfully, little resort to Camp).
Though the film was given the alternate title of THE LOVES OF COUNT IORGA, VAMPIRE {sic}, which is actually borne by the copy I watched (for the record, this had been shown on local TV in my childhood but I first caught it years later on British Cable TV), it does not overstress the romantic angle.
The stylish film was produced by Michael Macready (who also assumes the requisite heroic persona on-screen, though the doctor-turned-vampire-hunter played by Roger Perry actually has an even more central role!), son of distinguished character actor George Macready (who generously supplies the portentous narration here and which, at the start, erroneously refers to vampires as "The Living Dead"{!}: indeed, the whole film – scripted by Kelljan himself – aspires to a certain literariness but often merely results in being verbose
which, however, it often works around by having characters conversing about the unusual events in which they had been thrust presented as voice-over laid on exterior crowd scenes!).
Dracula for the swinging sixties sub-culture, with the dapper Robert Quarry ideally cast as the charming, articulate Count Yorga, a man of culture, who conducts a séance on behalf of the daughter of his former lover which sparks a series of shocking events to unfold.
When local GP (Perry) is informed of the mysterious Count Yorga, he begins to suspect there may in fact be a live vampire at large - convincing the authorities proves impossible and so he and Michael MacReady elect to go it alone and reveal the Count's sinister origins.
But they must contend with his faithful servant Bruder (Walsh) and a bevy of buxom undead vixens with insatiable appetites.Neoclassic vampire picture brings the Count Dracula character into the modern-day world with witty dialogue, moody atmosphere and convincing performances.
Quarry is a standout and Kelljan's economical direction keeps the pace tight and the action/suspense fluent throughout.Perry looks comfortable in his role and both he and Quarry essentially reprise their roles in the quickly made sequel "Return of Count Yorga" made the following year.
Count Yorga was something of a departure for vampire films in the seventies due to the fact that it's star isn't a bloodthirsty maniac, but rather a dapper and respectable rich bachelor, who happens to be a vampire.
The story starts properly once he has bitten one of the young women, who is later found with massive blood loss...and feasting on the family cat...Robert Quarry stars as the enigmatic count, and does an excellent job of it.
The actual horror of the film takes something of a backseat to Yorga's account of being a vampire; but the way that the film does this differently from other vampire movies helps it to retain it's element of originality.
On the whole, while I don't rate count Yorga as one of the out and out must see vampire movies, it's a very good one and fans of vampire films - especially Dracula and the like - will like this..
This is Yorga's movie anyway and Robert Quary give a great performance as the title vampire.
America was not to be left out, and Bob Kelljan's 'Count Yorga, Vampire' is a great little movie that is often unfairly overlooked.
'Count Yorga, Vampire' is interesting because it is set in contemporary America, quite a rarity at the time.
I enjoyed 'Count Yorga, Vampire' a lot and highly recommend it to fans of 60s and 70s vampire movies..
Filmed in 1970, on a limited budget, Count Yorga was the FIRST modern vampire film ever.
Another Dracula film in all but name, "Count Yorga, Vampire" was one of quite a few early-1970s reworkings of Bram Stoker's novel.
The lesbian scene while the Count watches and the implied rape by Yorga's servant are cut too short to be as shocking.A blood transfusion, like in the novel, is also performed.
Meanwhile, Robert Quarry's Count is almost too suave in the tradition of Bela Lugosi (as opposed to the more anti-social Dracula from Stoker's book); his disdain for rudeness nearly prevents him from avoiding the sunrise in one scene.Instead of any wolves, there's Rin Tin Tin, although it's not laughable as with the use of German Shepherds in the more faithful adaptations of Franco's 1970 film and the 1974 TV movie by Dan Curtis.
Some friends gather at the mansion of Robert Quarry (Count Yorga) so that they can hold a séance and Donna Anders (Donna) can contact her recently deceased mother Marsha Jordan.
Dracula in L.A. Robert Quarry makes his first and best appearance as the pasty-faced Bulgarian Count with excellent English in Bob Kelljan's 1970 minor classic Count Yorga, Vampire.
Paul turns to his trusted friends Mike (Michael Macready) and Dr. Jim Hayes (Roger Perry) for help, setting in motion a series of events that will lead to a final confrontation with Yorga, his scar-faced assistant Brudah (Edward Walsh) and his undead brides at their secluded retreat.Count Yorga, Vampire was originally intended to be a porn film and some of the production values and acting betray this sordid little secret.
The film is sombrely narrated by veteran actor George Macready (son of Michael) and the contemporary setting of 1970's Los Angeles anticipates later efforts such as The Night Stalker (1972), the superb Grave of The Vampire (1973) and Tom Holland's eighties favourite Fright Night (1985).A sequel, inevitably titled The Return of Count Yorga (1971), was released the following year and in spite of a bigger budget and higher production values, it fails to match the power and rough elegance of the first film.
Their reign continued well into the 70s, and one of their best from that period is this great vampire flick.Robert Quarry turns in a terrific, non-campy performance as Count Yorga, an old-school vampire living in 1970 L.A.
And there are few images from horror movies of the 70s as creepy as a newly infected woman munching down on her pet cat!The title as it appears onscreen is COUNT IORGA, VAMPIRE..
Overall, this film isn't as slickly made as the Hammer Horror films of this period, but it does have it's own low budget charms, primarily the Los Angeles setting, a few good visuals (particularly the count's "brides") and a fair amount of gory special effects.
In modern era now the Vampire strike in modern city,this time from Bulgaria,a low budge production,but uninteresting altogether,it's very analogous British sexy horror movies from the sixties,despite a bad makeup and costumes,the picture survives till the end,actually the end is a negative point for so negligible final,nevertheless The Robert Quarry made a convincing role as Count Yorga the Vampire!!Resume: First watch: 2017 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 6.
A GOOD Vampire film - fun to watch.Count Yorga is playing a spirit medium to help a girl speak to her recently deceased mother.
The final scenes, with vampire girls all over the house, and one lone guy left to fight the Count to the death, were some of the scariest scenes ever in any vampire film.The direction, for a B film, was good, but most of all it was Robert Quarry's film.
"Count Yorga, Vampire" comes across as a rather standard and ordinary horror movie now, but I reckon it must have been quite innovating in the early 70's, since it was one of the very first films (at least, to my knowledge) to transfer the subject matter of vampirism to a modern-day setting.
Robert Quarry stars as Count Yorga, a ruthless vampire who meets two couples at a séance where he is trying to contact his old love, who is the mother of one of the women.
The ceremony is being hosted by Count Yorga (Robert Quarry) and soon he is taking a part in Donna and her boyfriend Michael's (Michael Macready) lives.
It turns out that Count Yorga is actually a vampire and he has set his eyes on Donna.COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE was originally going to be a softcore picture but apparently a decision was made to cut out most of the sex and go for a straight horror film instead.
If I had to say anything bad about the picture it's the fact that the story itself isn't the most original thing out there.COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE is certainly an entertaining horror film and one that didn't have to rely on a bunch of blood or nudity..
Anyway, that's the setup in Bob Kelljan's surprisingly shocking, intelligent and believable horror film from 1970, "Count Yorga, Vampire." Several ingredients really help to lift this modern-day tale above the raft of similar competitors.
Made on a decidedly low budget, this contemporary vampire story is noted for placing a Dracula-like figure in a modern setting for perhaps the first time and for the captivating performance of Quarry in the title role.
Quarry is a striking presence as Count Yorga (actually meant to be Iorga, and pronounced that way in the film, but changed by the distributing company in order to be more easily pronounced by the movie-going public!) The actor clearly relishes the chance to perform this type of role and brings a gravity to it, despite some of the lighter and campier aspects of the movie.
Excellent vampire film because of the acting presence of Robert Quarry , who although an American can portray that old world style sophistication that I had not scene since Bela Lugosi's unforgettable interpretation of Dracula .Quarry is magnetic as Count Yorga , his twisted sense of superiority and confidence in the face of Roger Perry's character is fascinating as they spar with each other verbally and then Perry's character finally succumbs to Yorga's minions .
Bob Kellijan does a great job with this and the follow-up ''The Return of Count Yorga '' of capitalizing on Quarry's appeal which carries the film .Hail Robert Quarry !
It's up to those that are left, including Michael (Michael Macready, who also produced the film), and doctor / blood specialist Jim Hayes (Roger Perry), to wage war with the fiend."Count Yorga, Vampire" is good fun for fans of the vampire genre.
He's extremely charismatic and magnetic as the count, brings an air of class and sophistication to the film and holds his own with many more famous actors who've played vampires over the years.
Quarry stated in later interviews that he only agreed to play the vampire if the sex scenes were removed and it was made as a straight horror film, which is exactly what ended up happening.
The film was later re- rated PG-13, which is appropriate.All of the alterations to the original concept (plus the fact this was one of the first films to transplant a vampire into a modern day, non- Gothic setting) turned out to be wise from a lucrative standpoint as the film became a huge and unexpected hit and was immediately followed by the higher-budgeted sequel THE RETURN OF THE COUNT YORGA (1971), which brought back Quarry, Perry, Walsh and familiar character actor George Macready (who is the father of co-star / producer Michael and narrates this beginning and ending of this original)..
Robert Quarry gives a suavely sinister and mesmerizing performance as Count Yorga, a smooth, cultured and highly dangerous Bulgarian vampire who's posing as a psychic medium in modern-day 70's Los Angeles, California.
Better still, Kelljan totally pushes the PG rating to the limit: Erica snacks on a cute little kitten in one particularly shocking scene and Yorga's vampire brides all show off a lot of cleavage.
All the characters were good, and it's one of the better Vampire films i have seen, plus Robert Quarry is simply amazing in this!.
This is a creepy and extremely atmospheric Horror yarn,with a solid story, and an amazing performance from Robert Quarry!, i highly recommend it (especially for Vampire fans like me!).
Actor Robert Quarry, for one, makes a pretty good vampire, giving his character intelligence and elegance while at the same time showing he is a formidable threat.
A pair of sexy girlfriends attract the Count's attention and the jealous boyfriends try to save them from Yorga attentions.*Special Stars- Robert Quarry, Roger Perry, Michael Murphy, Donna Anders, Judy Lang, NARRATOR: George Macready.*Theme- Vampires are deadly as well as sexy to humans.*Trivia/location/goofs- Color.
Quarry makes a terrific vampire Count, capable of a charming urbanity that Hammer Films rarely allowed Christopher Lee to display; and fully portraying the demonic fury bit that Lee was so good at. |
tt0079379 | Julius Caesar | The play opens with the commoners of Rome celebrating Caesar's triumphant return from defeating Pompey's sons at the battle of Munda. Two tribunes, Flavius and Marrullus, discover the commoners celebrating, insult them for their change in loyalty from Pompey to Caesar, and break up the crowd. There are some jokes made by the commoners, who insult them back. They also plan on removing all decorations from Caesar's statues and ending any other festivities. In the next scene, during Caesar's parade on the feast of Lupercal, a soothsayer warns Caesar, "Beware the ides of March." This warning he disregards. The action then turns to the discussion between Brutus and Cassius. In this conversation, Cassius attempts to influence Brutus's opinions into believing Caesar should be killed, preparing to have Brutus join his conspiracy to kill Caesar. They then hear from Casca that Mark Antony has offered Caesar the crown of Rome three times and that each time Caesar refused it, fainting after the last refusal. Later, in act two, Brutus joins the conspiracy, although after much moral debate, eventually deciding that Caesar, although his friend and never having done anything against the people of Rome, should be killed to prevent him from doing anything against the people of Rome if he were ever to be crowned. He compares Caesar to "A serpents egg/ which hatch'd, would, as his kind, grow mischievous,/ and kill him in the shell." He then decides to join Cassius in killing Caesar.
Caesar's assassination is one of the most famous scenes of the play, occurring in Act 3, scene 1. After ignoring the soothsayer, as well as his wife's own premonitions, Caesar comes to the Senate. The conspirators create a superficial motive for coming close enough to assassinate Caesar by means of a petition brought by Metellus Cimber, pleading on behalf of his banished brother. As Caesar, predictably, rejects the petition, Casca grazes Caesar in the back of his neck, and the others follow in stabbing him; Brutus is last. At this point, Shakespeare makes Caesar utter the famous line "Et tu, Brute?" ("And you, Brutus?", i.e. "You too, Brutus?") Shakespeare has him add, "Then fall, Caesar!" This suggests that such treachery destroyed Caesar's will to live.
The conspirators make clear that they committed this act for Rome, not for their own purposes, and do not attempt to flee the scene. After Caesar is killed, Brutus delivers an oration defending his actions, and for the moment, the crowd is on his side. However, Mark Antony makes a subtle and eloquent speech over Caesar's corpse, beginning with the much-quoted "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!" In this way, he deftly turns public opinion against the assassins by manipulating the emotions of the common people, in contrast to the rational tone of Brutus's speech, yet there is method in his rhetorical speech and gestures: he reminds them of the good Caesar had done for Rome, his sympathy with the poor, and his refusal of the crown at the Lupercal, thus questioning Brutus's claim of Caesar's ambition; he shows Caesar's bloody, lifeless body to the crowd to have them shed tears and gain sympathy for their fallen hero; and he reads Caesar's will, in which every Roman citizen would receive 75 drachmas. Antony, even as he states his intentions against it, rouses the mob to drive the conspirators from Rome. Amid the violence, an innocent poet, Cinna, is confused with the conspirator Lucius Cinna and is taken by the mob, which kills him by tearing him to pieces for such "offenses" as his bad verses.
The beginning of Act Four is marked by the quarrel scene, where Brutus attacks Cassius for supposedly soiling the noble act of regicide by having accepted bribes. ("Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake? / What villain touch'd his body, that did stab, / And not for justice?") The two are reconciled, especially after Brutus reveals that his beloved wife Portia had committed suicide under the stress of his absence from Rome; they prepare for a war against Mark Antony and Caesar's adopted son, Octavius. That night, Caesar's ghost appears to Brutus with a warning of defeat. (He informs Brutus, "Thou shalt see me at Philippi.")
At the battle, Cassius and Brutus, knowing that they will probably both die, smile their last smiles to each other and hold hands. During the battle, Cassius has his servant Pindarus kill him after hearing of the capture of his best friend, Titinius. After Titinius, who was not really captured, sees Cassius's corpse, he commits suicide. However, Brutus wins that stage of the battle--but his victory is not conclusive. With a heavy heart, Brutus battles again the next day. He loses and commits suicide by running on his own sword, which is held by a soldier named Strato.
The play ends with a tribute to Brutus by Antony, who proclaims that Brutus has remained "the noblest Roman of them all" because he was the only conspirator who acted, in his mind, for the good of Rome. There is then a small hint at the friction between Mark Antony and Octavius which characterizes another of Shakespeare's Roman plays, Antony and Cleopatra. | tragedy | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0366276 | Calcutta Mail | Avinash (Anil Kapoor) comes to Calcutta to search for his only son and finds himself engulfed with too many people interested in him. His only lead is a telephone number given to him by a cop before coming to Calcutta. As soon, as he lands in Calcutta, he needs a place to stay. Here, he meets Reema aka Bulbul (Rani Mukherjee), a bubbly novelist who is supposed to be doing research for her novel. The room that Avinash gets is occupied by Bulbul. She refuses to vacate so Avinash stays there too (though he sleeps outside the room). Bulbul falls in love with Avinash and becomes the light in his dark life.
There are flashbacks throughout the movie. Sanjana (Manisha Koirala) and Avinash once lived in Calcutta with their only child, a son. One day, Avinash witnessed a crime being committed and came to the assistance of the victim, taking him to hospital. This did not augur well with his assailants, and they killed Sanjana and abducted their child. The police was involved but was unable to trace the child.
A heartbroken and desperate Avinash decides to take matters into his own hands and begins inquiring. His inquiries take him to Mumbai via the Calcutta Mail, and this is where he will find out whether his son is alive or not, or whether he himself has been lured into a deadly trap. | flashback | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1014775 | Beverly Hills Chihuahua | In Beverly Hills, California, wealthy heiress Vivian "Viv" Ashe leaves her richly pampered pet chihuahua, Chloe, with her irresponsible niece, Rachel, while she embarks on a business trip for ten days. Papi, the gardener Sam's pet Chihuahua of Mexican descent, has an unrequited crush on Chloe, by which she is disgusted. Rachel decides to go to Mexico with her friends and stay at a hotel by the beach. When Rachel leaves Chloe alone in the hotel room to go dancing at a club, Chloe goes looking for her. Chloe gets dog-napped as she tries to find Rachel and is sent to the dog fights in Mexico City. There, she meets a street-smart German Shepherd named Delgado. Rachel comes back to the hotel and is frantic when she finds Chloe missing.
Chloe is picked to fight in the pit against El Diablo, a fierce Argentinean-Bolivian Doberman Pinscher. Delgado helps her escape the dog fights, unleashing the other dogs from their cages and unlocking the ring to allow both Chloe and himself to flee. After several arguments, he then decides to return her to Beverly Hills safely.
Meanwhile, Rachel and Sam go to the Mexican police and offer rewards in an effort to find Chloe. El Diablo is sent by the dog fight ringleader, Vasquez, to capture Chloe and obtain the reward f: the border, but they are caught and are forced to jump out, eventually arriving in the barren deserts of Chihuahua, where Delgado explains that he was a former police dog; he was retired after he lost his sense of smell during a raid and a sneak attack from El Diablo.
Rachel and Sam are in Puerto Vallarta and find that Chloe was spotted in the state of Chihuahua. After tracking Chloe and Delgado from Mexico City, El Diablo arrives in Chihuahua and attempts to capture Chloe, but Papi saves her and ends getting captured in a cage inside an abandoned Aztec temple, but Delgado comes to rescue the two and is briefly defeated. Chloe then rescues Papi, but Delgado discovers that El Diablo had vanished. Rachel finds Chloe, and Vasquez get arrested by the police. Chloe returns safely to Beverly Hills without Vivian finding out what happened and accepts a romantic relationship with Papi, as well as Rachel with Sam. The characters' fates are later revealed: Delgado returns to being a police dog in Mexico; El Diablo is recaptured by Delgado and is adopted by a rich lady who "had a passion for fashion"; Chico and Manuel move to Beverly Hills and become rich; and Papi and Chloe have their first date. | comedy | train | wikipedia | null |
tt5333506 | The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dawnguard | The player character may begin the expansion quest lines in a number of ways. Town guards can be overheard discussing the return of the Dawnguard, or the player character may be approached directly by an Orcish Dawnguard member named Durak and asked to join the order to combat the growing threat of vampires within Skyrim. Regardless of how it is initiated, the player character travels to Fort Dawnguard, accessible through Dayspring Canyon, located near Riften. They meet with the Dawnguard commander, Isran, who reiterates the renewed strength and threat of the vampires, citing their destruction of the headquarters of the Vigilants of Stendarr as reason to reform the Dawnguard and eradicate the vampires. The player character is given a crossbow and asked to travel to a ruin the vampires are known to be investigating. Upon arrival, the player discovers a vampire named Serana (voiced by Laura Bailey) trapped inside a statue. She is in possession of an Elder Scroll, and informs the player that her family live in a dwelling off the coast of Skyrim, near Solitude, called Castle Volkihar. She asks the player character to escort her safely back to her home. When she has been returned home, her father, the vampire Lord Harkon, offers the player the chance to become a vampire lord out of apparent gratitude for his daughter's safety, or the chance to leave Castle Volkihar safely and return to the Dawnguard. This choice begins the main storyline of Dawnguard.
=== Volkihar path ===
If the player accepts Lord Harkon's offer, the vampire lord bites the player character. The player awakens in a room, in front of a shrine to the Daedric prince, Molag Bal. Harkon explains Molag Bal is considered the "father of [his] kind". Thousands of years ago, Harkon was a king and a mortal. He pledged his soul to Molag Bal, and sacrificed "a thousand innocents" in his name. The Daedra granted Harkon and his family immortality by afflicting them with vampirism. Harkon shows the player character how to utilize their new vampire lord form and powers. The player is then tasked with retrieving the Bloodstone Chalice, a powerful artifact intended to aid Harkon's cause, to fill it with water from Redwater Den, and then to add the blood of a powerful vampire. While retrieving the Chalice, the player character is attacked by two of the Volkihar, Stalf and Salonia, who are plotting to overthrow Harkon. After killing them, the player adds their blood to the Chalice and returns to Castle Volkihar.
After receiving the Chalice, Harkon spreads false rumors around Skyrim regarding the alleged discovery of an Elder Scroll, to try and lure a Moth Priest to the land. The Moth Priests are an ancient order, capable of looking upon the Elder Scrolls and deciphering prophecy from them. The player travels to Forebear's Hideout, and captures a Moth Priest named Dexion Evicus. The player turns the Priest into a thrall, and upon reading the Scroll, Evicus reveals to the Volkihar that they need to locate a weapon named Auriel's Bow, as well as two more Elder Scrolls. One of the Scrolls lies within the Dwemer ruin of Blackreach, and is retrieved as part of the original main quest line. The other was taken by Serana's estranged mother, Valerica, when she fled the castle. The player character and Serana journey to a plane of Oblivion known as the Soul Cairn. They locate Valerica and retrieve the final Elder Scroll. Before they return to Tamriel, Valerica warns them to stop Harkon, as he intends to kill Serana to fulfill the prophecy.
The player character learns from the Elder Scrolls that Auriel's Bow is located in Darkfall Cave. The player meets with Gelebor, one of the last remaining Snow Elves, and a Knight-Paladin of the Chantry of Auri-El. He instructs the player how to retrieve Auriel's Bow, by completing a series of tasks and defeating Arch-Curate Vyrthur, Gelebor's brother, who has been corrupted by the Falmer. The player character and Serana confront Vyrthur and discover that he is both a vampire and the creator of the prophecy, and desires to block out of the sun in order to disrupt Auri-El's influence in Tamriel, in retaliation for the god allowing him to be afflicted with vampirism.
After retrieving the Bow, the player character and Serana confront Lord Harkon in Castle Volkihar. They battle Harkon and slay him, ending the threat to Tamriel and to Serana, and the members of Harkon's court acknowledge the player character as their new master.
=== Dawnguard path ===
If the player character refuses Harkon's offer and returns to the Dawnguard, the plot plays out nearly identically, albeit viewed from the perspective of the Dawnguard. Serana makes herself known to the Dawnguard, relaying information about Harkon's plan, and pledging assistance to the Dawnguard. In order to enter the Soul Cairn, the player must be blooded as a vampire by Serana or be partially soul-trapped to gain access. Aside from these details, the quest lines follow a similar path to the Volkihar, but it diverges during the last story mission, when the player leads the Dawnguard's final assault on Harkon and his allies. The player and Serana succeed in killing Harkon in a climactic showdown, effectively eliminating the great vampire threat in Skyrim. | good versus evil | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0077735 | The Initiation of Sarah | Twin sisters Sarah (Mika Boorem) and Lindsay (Summer Glau) are excited to attend Temple Hill University, where they will likely join Alpha Nu as their mother Trina Goodwin (Morgan Fairchild) was a previous member. Sarah finds herself immediately drawn to Finn, a student adviser that invites them both to Pi Epsilon Delta's rush week party. At the party the sisters are introduced to the Alpha Nu President, Corrine (Joanna Garcia), but Sarah ends up leaving the party in tears after accidentally spilling a drink on Corrine. Lindsay follows Sarah and accidentally breaks her ankle. They're brought into the Pi Epsilon Delta house, where Dr. Eugenia Hunter (Jennifer Tilly) introduces herself as a friend of their mother. The sisters are surprised to find that Lindsay's ankle has been healed. The following day Corrine ingratiates herself to Lindsay during a meeting at Alpha Nu, during which time Corrine takes the opportunity to take an eyelash off of Lindsay and pocket it.
Sarah is approached by Dr. Hunter, who tells Sarah that they both possess magical powers. This unnerves Sarah, especially after Dr. Hunter later tells her that the Pi Epsilon Deltas and the Alpha Nus are mortal enemies locked in a fight of good against evil, and that Sarah is the One- a person who could disrupt the balance. Sarah is further warned that as the One, the Alpha Nu wants to sacrifice her to the Eternal Flame with the Knife of Truth in exchange for immortality. Sarah tries to approach her sister with this, who angrily tells her that Sarah has always been the focus of attention as opposed to Lindsay herself and Lindsay ends up leaving in tears. After Corrine's vice-president Esme (Tessa Thompson) informs her of the fight, Corrine uses this to persuade Lindsay into joining the sorority in return for beauty and a chance to outshine her sister - an offer Lindsay eagerly accepts.
Things grow more tense after Lindsay is forced to stay in the Pi Epsilon Delta following a fire and after making up with Finn, Sarah discovers that Trina Goodwin is not her true mother and that Trina actually killed their birth mother after a failed ritual. The Alpha Nus had believed her to be the One, which had been proven to be false after the Knife of Truth refused to cut her, as it will only cut the flesh of the One. Sarah also learns that the Alpha Nus are willing to kill her if they can't have her, which prompts her to try to rescue her sister from their clutches. She initially seems to be successful, as Lindsay appears to want to leave the group, but this is soon revealed to be a trap to capture Sarah and force her into sacrificing herself willingly. However everyone is shocked when a struggle reveals that the true One is actually Lindsay rather than Sarah, as the Knife of Truth ends up nicking her throat. They also find that the Knife can cut through anything if it has the blood of the One on it.
Corrine immediately imprisons Lindsay in preparation for her initiation into the sorority and kills Trina Goodwin, as she is no longer of any use to Corrine. Sarah escapes with Finn and the two end up having sex in order to keep him from being sacrificed in a ceremony where the Alpha Nus will throw virgins into their Eternal Flame to keep it burning. Sarah and Lindsay are both initiated into their respective houses (Sarah into Pi Epsilon Delta, Lindsay into Alpha Nu) and Lindsay is horrified when she discovers that the Alpha Nus are intent on sacrificing her. Sarah manages to successfully rescue her sister, almost dying in the process, and after a struggle pushes Corrine into the Eternal Flame. After they return to the Pi Epsilon Delta house, Dr. Hunter uses Lindsay's inner power to heal her and the film ends with Esme walking off with a little bit of the Eternal Fire in a small cauldron. | paranormal, revenge | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0125971 | Outside Providence | Timothy "Dildo/Dunph" Dunphy (Shawn Hatosy), is in the Class of 1974 in his high school senior year living in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, comes from a troubled single parent working-class family, and is friends with those that have aspirations which do not exceed smoking marijuana at the water tower that has a view of the town. His father, Pat (Alec Baldwin), suffers from his wife committing suicide and appears naïve when the boys come back to the Dunphy's house to get a bong. A regularly held poker game is in progress. Pat insists that the boys be respectful and come in to say hello. The boys' intention is undetected by Pat that they are using drugs when Dunph's wheelchair-using younger brother, Jackie (Tommy Bone), attempts to hand off the bong wrapped in Dunph's coat. It falls to the floor. Jackie suggests that it is a musical horn which Pat's friend, Joey (George Wendt), asks Dunph to demonstrate, only able to make sounds about which Pat is dismissive. Pat's friends chuckle at Pat's reaction. Off the boys go on their adventures.
The guys head home with Dunph at the wheel but he is unable to see the road with the cloud of marijuana smoke filling the cab. He rear-ends a police vehicle. Pat's poker game player, Caveech, uses his influence with a local judge to replace a reform school sentence with the stipulation of parole graduating high school at Cornwall Academy, a Connecticut boys' boarding school with a sister school nearby under the same name. Failure to graduate vacates the terms of parole and he will serve a one year jail sentence.
He meets the rigid dorm master, Mr. Funderburk (Timothy Crowe), who emphases learning the school rules book. Dunph learns that new friend Wheeler and other new schoolmates, a class of people that seem to have more opportunities than himself, are involved in their own mischief just like the boys back home. Billy Fu is one particular example. He is a middle eastern exchange student with "the best reefer on campus". He routinely misses classes without repercussion because his father pledges a large donation to the school on the condition that Billy graduate.
Dunph is no longer just any student at the school when "Drugs" Delaney (Jon Abrahams), writes Dunph with his particular colorful words and addressing the letter in the most simplest of ways that the school has to open it to learn of the contents; Dunph has low regard for both the school and Mr. Funderburk. Dunph routinely gets sanctioned with work hours as punishment for his school rules transgressions. He also develops a friendship with a sister school student, Jane Weston (Amy Smart), regarded as "hands down, the coolest girl in school". A romance develops and through her advice he learns about personal fulfillment which could be achieved by an education.
She and others are found out by Mr. Funderburk smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol in a dorm room of the boys' dorm. The incident is resolved, unknown to Dunph's knowledge until too late, with Jane expelled for school rules violations. Dunph feels responsible for dashing Jane's goal of attending Brown University following graduation. He concludes: Wheeler's acceptance at Yale University is weighed heavily by a letter of recommendation from Funderburk and Wheeler was caught with marijuana during an earlier raid; therefore Wheeler made his own deal with Funderburk to inform on others which resulted in Jane being expelled. Dunph resolves to see Jane's college plans revitalized by speaking with the Dean at Brown University, as he explains that she was the innocent party in the incident.
Dunph comes to terms with his father's apprehension discussing the death in the family because the latter felt responsible for imposing on her a life that she could not handle; she being too young when they married, depressed and agoraphobic. Dunph refuse to shake Funderburk's hand at the graduation ceremony in the auditorium and exits after asking his classmates for his "luggage". He then meets up with his father and Jackie as they arrive. Pat hands over an acceptance letter from the Rhode Island Junior College where Dunph points out that everyone is accepted although he could then transfer to a "senior college...where people sleep over and shit." Pat congratulates Dunph for being the first of the family to go to college and the younger brother not to be trumped surmises the possibility that it just very well may be that Jackie himself may be the first to graduate. | flashback, revenge, prank, romantic, home movie | train | wikipedia | Outside Providence does not seem like much from the preview, but it turns out to be a surprisingly good comedy..
Outside Providence seems like just another low budget, goofy high school comedy from the preview, but it is really a good movie.
This seems like the premise of the kind of ridiculous high school comedies that characterized the 80s (Screwballs, Ski School, etc.), but Outside Providence works well because it has heart.
The story is not exactly something that is entirely original, but the presentation of the film and the acting are extremely good, and the end result is a great comedy.
Alec Baldwin delivers a hilarious performance as the emotionally closed-off father, regularly referring to his own son as "dildo." He steals every scene he is in, and he should be particularly noted for his ability to give such a convincing portrayal of an emotionless, macho father and still be convincing in the emotionally tense scene between him and Timothy where he describes Tim's late mother.
Instead, Outside Providence focuses on character development and a good story, and tops it all off with a healthy amount of comedy in the form of the cast, the characters, the script, dialogue, and pretty much everything else.
Alec Baldwin was hysterical as Old Man Dunphy and the supporting cast of friends like Drugs & The Wire were funny as well.
The ambiguity of youth and the road to maturity are addressed in a somewhat stoically humorous manner by the Farrelly Brothers in the comedy, `Outside Providence,' directed by Michael Corrente.
Set in New England in 1974, the story centers on Tim Dunphy (Shawn Hatosy), an irresponsible seventeen-year-old who since the untimely death of his mother has lived with his gruff, blue-collar father (Alec Baldwin), his crippled younger brother, Jackie (Tommy Bone) and a one-eyed, three-legged dog.
And that is the question.While not terribly original by any means, Corrente's film (which he co-wrote with Bobby and Peter Farrelly, adapted from the novel by Peter Farrelly) is funny and well presented, and has that quirky, recognizable Farrelly Brother's touch.
There's even a poignant moment or two, and most importantly, this isn't a `silly' movie, and though the characters are fairly stereotypical, Corrente manages to give it something of a fresh face and allows the humor to evolve naturally, never fishing for laughs or manipulating the situations purely for the sake of hilarity.
And it works well; there are some genuinely funny scenes, some side-splitting lines and one signature Farrelly Brothers scene that involves a flashback of the traumatic `hazing' of a freshman named Irving (Jack Ferver).Shawn Hatosy gives a believable performance as Tim, and though he's not overly charismatic or likable, he does create a character with whom many peers and parents will be able to relate.
Without anything singular or remarkable about him, he is entirely true-to-life and honest.As `Old Man Dunphy,' Baldwin gives a solid performance, and with limited screen time manages to establish his character with astute precision.
Like Tim, Baldwin's character is real, and serves as a kind of core for the story, and that realism of the characters is one of the strengths of the film.
In a market veritably saturated for some time with comedies about teen angst (most of which are silly, insignificant, devoid of real humor and not worth the film they're printed on), with `Outside Providence,' Corrente and the Farrelly Brothers have to be given credit for delivering one that is truly funny while at the same time anchored in reality.
"Outside Providence" plays as a very good 70s coming-of-age movie.
A new comer to the screen, a lot of us will remember Shawn from the hit comedy In and Out. Like Alec Baldwin, Shawn Hatosy gave a realistic and heart filled performance.
Director: Michael Corrente, Script: Peter Farrelly (Novel), Michael Corrente, Bobby Farrelly, Cast: Shawn Hatosy, Tommy Bone, Alec Baldwin, Amy Smart, Jon Abrahams.Coming of age film about a group of stoner friends from the poor neighbourhood in the blue collar town of Pawtucket, R.I. The film is told from the point of view of Timmothy Dunphy, an underachiever whose main goal in life seems to be how much dope he can smoke.
The Farrelly brothers are from Rhode Island and many of their movies are filmed there.
This film is not as wild as THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, but it is amusing, touching, annoying, vulgar, funny, and goodnatured -- pretty good for one movie.It is an odd stew of the 3 Stooges, Huck Finn, SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, and THE DEAD POET'S SOCIETY.
I figured this would turn out to be a pretty typical teen-style comedy, with the "bad kid" heading off to the "good school" and turning it upside down, with the movie becoming little more than sex and drugs.
(As an aside, dad's "buddies" are played by a pretty decent cast of actors, including George Wendt and Richard Jenkins.) For much of the movie we know nothing about Tim's mother, except that she isn't there.
Yes, as I noted, there's a lot of weed smoked over the course of an hour and a half, and there's the requisite "evil" adult character, in this case represented by My. Funderburk, played by Timothy Crowe, but even Funderburke (while a bit ridiculous at times) is less over the top than most similar characters in teen movies.
Alec Baldwin has finally made another good movie with this little gem.
Alec's great as grumpy Old Man Dunphy and this is good, but not great, story about his son's coming of age at an expensive prep school.If you like flicks like this with great 1970's soundtracks, see Outside Providence.
This is a terrific movie, and Alec Baldwin among others delivered such fine performances in this film that combines coming-of-age wit and drama with 70's nostalgia.
Outside Providence — Feel Good Movie.
Outside Providence is a real feel good movie.
The directors were the studio's biggest moneymaker, so as a result, we got all different kinds of films from the directors, good and bad.And after watching both of the previously mentioned efforts and was met with marginal satisfaction, my idea to venture into the Farrelly's lesser-known film Outside Providence, which was critically underwhelming and financially disastrous compared to the previous films.
The film is simple, good-natured, and an easy watch, but at no point does this become more than a methodical tip-toe through the woods of clichés.Our main character is Timothy "Dildo" Dunphy (Shawn Hatosy), an underachieving high school senior with a strict father (Alec Baldwin) and a handicapped brother (Tommy Bone) he treats like a regular person to avoid showing any resemblance of superiority or difference towards him.
I could already assume that the film is pretty fictional, because I would expect quirkier, more unique experiences from one of the most famous comedy directors in the business.Shawn Hatosy gives us a kind-hearted, but overall, bland character to deal with, proving that he has the charisma and screen presence but not the proper material to sustain a ninety-five minute excursion.
The most admirably compelling performance in the film is that of Alec Baldwin's whose cut throat, east-coast attitude is somewhat out of place but not the less welcoming in a film filled dead-end material.Ultimately, the highest regard I can pay to Outside Providence is its wonderful use of seventies songs, all of which easily recognizable and wonderfully engaging.
For the Farrelly's, it may have gotten Miramax to wake up.Starring: Shawn Hatosy, Alec Baldwin, Amy Smart, Timothy Crowe, and Tommy Bone.
Part stoner movie, part "Animal House" at prep school, and part family drama, "Outside Providence" really doesn't succeed at any of the above.
Alec Baldwin and his card playing buddies seem more like an afterthought, than an integral part of the movie.
Unlike other Farrely brother movies which though entertaining only aim at making the viewer laugh Outside providence is just a good old fashioned comedy that tells a great simple story that is not only funny but touching.
It has some funny moments scattered throughout the film and Alec Baldwin's performance was very good.
If you're not offended by the drug counter-culture, or looking for the silly humor the makers of this film are known for, Outside Providence may entertain you for an hour or so..
I only went to see this movie because of the Farrelly Brothers' involvement (I loved There's Something About Mary).
Alec Baldwin gives a wonderful performance as a crusty dad, and Shawn Hatosy proves that he isn't just another average teeny bopper movie actor.
Outside Providence was made by the Farrelly Brothers who made There's Something About Mary and Dumb and Dumber.
Outside Providence contains a bonding sequence between Alec Baldwin and the hero that rivals anything in Good Will Hunting or other "male bonding" films of late.
The Farrelly brothers (the makers of such laugh-a-minute gross out fests as `There's Something About Mary,' `Kingpin' and `Dumb and Dumber,' among others) take a decided stylistic turn with `Outside Providence,' a low-keyed, laid back coming-of-age tale set in Rhode Island during the mid 1970's.
Shawn Hatosy stars as Timothy Dunphy, a likable, not-very-bright high school student who, like many of his generation, would much rather party than study and would rather smoke-out than think seriously about his future plans for college or career or even life in general.
Alec Baldwin, adopting a dese-dem-dose accent for the occasion, plays Tim's father, a well-intentioned widower whose brusque demeanor hides a filial love that Tim is only vaguely aware exists.`Outside Providence' certainly does not bring a whole lot of fresh insights to this well-worn territory.
There is also, of course, the mandatory death of one of the members of the original gang to act as a device to sober the boy's up to an awakened awareness of the seriousness and responsibilities of adulthood.Yet, for all of its adherence to the formula of this particular genre, `Outside Providence' wins the audience over, partly through the breezy likeability of the actors and performers, partly through the unforced realism of the screenplay, and partly through the film's dead-on accurate recreation of a decade that is fast becoming the era of choice for modern day nostalgia.
Like so many films that tie themselves strongly to a time long past, `Outside Providence' relies (and perhaps even over relies) on a soundtrack filled with memory-inducing tunes of the period.
I think that this movie was a wonderful film that addresses some very real life situations in the most beautiful ways.
If you see the Farrelly Brother's "Outside Providence" looking for more of the gross-out style humor you saw in "Something About Mary" or are currently seeing in "Me, Myself and Irene" you're going to have to look elsewhere.
"Outside Providence" is a "coming of age" type movie with little in the way of gross out and more in the way of story.
This was a nice return for Alec, and he plays a surprisingly strong supporting character.The lovely Amy Smart plays Jane Weston, the object of Tim's affections at school.
You may, however, be surprised by the heart that this film shows in the relationship of the broken family wounded by the untimely death of the mother.The best part of the movie for me was the soundtrack.
This movie, although directed by the Farrely brothers and has Alec Baldwin, George Wendt and a solid young cast, is barely known outside the local Blockbuster.
I thought this would be good, for i love dumb and dumber, Kingpin, and Something About Mary, but this movie is lacking big time in plot and it gets lost several times in the middle and kinda flounders.
Feels like this kind of movie has been done a million times, but Michael Corrente's sensitive direction and a script by Corrente and the Farrelly brothers (of There's Something About Mary fame) easily avoid most cliches and go straight for the heart.
It is a good movie.Shawn Hatosy carries the lead role of Tim as a real person.
OUTSIDE PROVIDENCE is like any number of "Coming Of Age" type films--seen one, you've seen 'em all.
There are no plot surprises in this one; working class boy gets into trouble at home, is sent off to preparatory school as a way to get out of trouble, and finds that the people at prep school aren't any different from the ones he left behind in his working class neighborhood, except that one of them--a smart girl--falls head-over-heels in love with him for no apparent reason.Shawn Hatosy as Tim Dumphy won't win any awards for this; in fact, by the time the movie ends, you'd be hard-pressed to even remember his name (and my husband and I both tried).
Alec Baldwin, often the best thing about any movie he appears in, turns in a brilliant performance as Old Man Dumphy--vulgar and crude to the point of appearing cruel, but loving and giving to his children in moments that are unexpectedly touching.
Its hard to comment on this film, I didn't read any hype, and had no idea what to expect, I didn't know it was a "Farrelly Bros' movie, etc.
There are a few great things that this movie does so well such as the depiction of Dunphy and Jane's growing romance through high-school.
"Outside Providence" evoked memories of "Breaking Away" (1979- the film not the TV series) for me...and that's a very good feeling.
But anyway, it was a great movie and I recommend it to anyone who wants to have a good time..
Although Alec Baldwin didn't play a large role in the movie, the other actors did a great job.
I found Outside Providence to be a wonderful movie experience with a nice balance between comedy and drama, well-defined characters and a well-paced story.
Outside Providence was a great movie.
Outside Providence was a great movie.
Be sure to see this film if you like offensive, gross, and predictable movies.
I always love a good teen coming-of-age type movie, you know the ones where the characters hang out, and learn about life, and this one was no exception.
But outside of providence has it's moments most of the scenes with Jon Abrams as Drugs Delaney will get a few laughs but what my personally favorite parts in this film were the hilarious annual poker games with Alec Baldwin and his friends, every time they played cards i laughed out loud.
I don't think the movie was written like most farrelly bros movies with a laugh a minute movie but this is rather more relaxed and it's an easy film to digest, once you leave you'll probably feel good about yourself.
Peter had written a novel, despite the fact that the front cover for the film boasts "From the Guys Who Brought You...".Then, after the success of "D & D" in 1994, and the continual success of "Kingpin" and "There's Something About Mary," Peter finally got the chance to turn his original work into a feature film - by co-scribing the screenplay and passing the director's chair off to Michael Corrente, probably anticipating the fact that the film was far from his brand of humor, and many devoted fans might start to doubt their crudity.Unfortunately, though, the Farrelly Brothers are best at crude humor, and are the rare filmmakers that make the audience want -- or EXPECT -- crude humor.
So trying to mix a coming-of-age story with an aimless preachy screenplay doesn't help."Outside Providence" is about a kid named Tim Dunphy.
And while some moments in "Outside Providence" lightly touched me, the stupid throw-ins (drugs, off-color humor, pointless scenes, etc.) makes the film just another forgettable coming-of-age tale in my memory.2.5/5 stars.John Ulmer.
Playing off of the time-tested classic coming-of-age plot, they've made another indy-spirited, off-beat comedy.Tim Dunphy gets into trouble and is in danger of not graduating high school, so his mob-connected scumbag dad (Alec Baldwin!) gets him enrolled at a top-notch school in Connecticut.
While there, he makes good friends, has a good time, gets in trouble and learns a little about life.The Farrellys are very aware of the coming-of-age teen drama that they are satirizing.
But exaggerated characters such as "Drugs" or "Old Man Dunphy" bring the film to life ala Warren from Something About Mary.
The relationship between Timothy and Jane is compelling, Alec Baldwin may have found a perfect role, Timothy's friends are good for some quality laughs and are notoriously similar to friends that I had when growing up; but the move gets a bit too feel-goody at times.The multiple subplots aren't adequately flushed out and as with many other coming of age movies, they end up spreading the story too thin.
Alec Baldwin plays it good (yet with a complex Providence accent) as the kid's father and some other things are funny, but they can't match up to the funny pics that come around every year.
It is the story of a working class teenager from Rhode Island named Timothy Dunphy (Shawn Hatosy) who is sent to prep school for getting into trouble with the police.
The film has its moments, but mostly it is a nostalgic retrospective on prep life in the 1970's with little in the way of a plot.Having gone to college in Rhode Island in the 1970's, I can identify with the period, and Rhode Islande born director Michael Corrente, through the look and feel of the New England settings and the background music, did a good job of bringing back a flood of memories from that time.Shawn Hatosy did an excellent job in his portrayal of a working class teen, trying to make the best of what he considered a bad situation.
Nothing new.A movie written by the Farrely brothers and director Corrente this should not be confused with comedies like Dumb & Dumber or There's something about Mary.
Outside Providence (1999): Dir: Michael Corrente / Cast: Shawn Hatosy, Amy Smart, Alec Baldwin, George Wendt, Jon Abrahams: Advertizements emphasize the fact that the Farrelly brothers wrote this film. |
tt0296870 | StarCraft: Brood War | === Setting ===
Brood War takes place in the StarCraft universe, set around the early 26th century. Terran exiles from Earth have colonized a distant area of the Milky Way galaxy called the Koprulu Sector, having established several governments. Eventually, a civil war breaks out and ends with the formation of the Terran Dominion. However, humanity soon becomes caught in a war between the Protoss and the Zerg, which culminates at the end of StarCraft with the death of the Zerg leader, the Overmind, on the Protoss homeworld of Aiur. Without the Overmind to command, the Zerg rampage mindlessly across Aiur, while the cerebrates—the secondary commanders of the Swarm—attempt to regain control. After the discovery of alien life in the Koprulu Sector, the United Earth Directorate (UED)—the international body governing Earth—decides to send an expeditionary force to secure the sector and prevent the aliens from finding Earth. Brood War begins two days after the conclusion of StarCraft.
=== Characters ===
The player assumes the roles of three anonymous characters over the course of the game. In the first campaign, the player assumes the role of a Protoss fleet commander. The player's character is commanded by Zeratul and Aldaris, two adversaries from StarCraft who have since reconciled their differences to lead their people in the face of the rampaging Zerg. They are joined by Jim Raynor, a Terran rebel on the run from the Dominion, Artanis, the previous Executor of the third campaign of StarCraft who has recently been promoted, and Raszagal, the matriarch of the dissident dark templar faction in Protoss society. The second campaign sees the player as a captain in the UED expeditionary force, reporting to the fleet's admiral Gerard DuGalle and his vice-admiral Alexei Stukov. To secure the sector, the UED plans to overthrow the Terran Dominion and its emperor Arcturus Mengsk, and are assisted in this by Samir Duran, a mysterious psionic ghost espionage agent, and his group of anti-Dominion rebels. The final campaign has the player assume the position of a Zerg cerebrate, a commander within the Zerg Swarm. The player is put under the control of Sarah Kerrigan, a Terran who was infested by the Zerg in StarCraft.
=== Plot ===
The story of Brood War is presented through its instruction manual, the briefings to each mission, and conversations within the missions themselves, along with the use of cinematic cut scenes at the end of each campaign. The game itself is split into three new episodes, one for the player to command each race.
In the first episode, Aldaris, Zeratul, and the newly promoted Artanis work to evacuate the surviving Protoss from their devastated homeworld through a warp gate to a dark templar colony on Shakuras, where they meet the matriarch of the dark templar, Raszagal. Although the Zerg are able to follow the Protoss to Shakuras, Raszagal informs the survivors of a Xel'Naga temple on the surface of the planet with the power to scour the Zerg from the surface if activated. Reluctantly partnering with Sarah Kerrigan, who informs them of a new Overmind growing on Char, the player joins Zeratul and Artanis in an operation to recover two key crystals (Khalis and Uraj) necessary to operate the temple. Upon their return, it is revealed that Aldaris has begun an uprising against the dark templar over their alliance with Kerrigan. The uprising is crushed, and Aldaris is killed by Kerrigan, who reveals that her motives are to ensure the destruction of the Zerg cerebrates on Shakuras so she can gain control of the Zerg herself before departing the planet. Despite knowing that activating the temple will accomplish Kerrigan's objectives, Zeratul and Artanis proceed with little other choice, wiping the Zerg off Shakuras' surface.
In the second episode, the player leads the United Earth Directorate's initial incursions against the Terran Dominion. Upon meeting Samir Duran, the fleet's vice-admiral Alexei Stukov conscripts Duran as a special advisor. The UED soon discovers a "psi disrupter"—a device capable of disrupting Zerg communications—on the former Confederate capital Tarsonis. Although Duran persuades admiral Gerard DuGalle to have the anti-Zerg device destroyed, Stukov's forces relieve Duran at the last moment. The UED proceeds to the Dominion throne world Korhal IV where the player defeats Arcturus Mengsk's armies, although Mengsk is rescued when a Protoss fleet commanded by Jim Raynor arrives. The UED tracks Raynor and Mengsk to the Protoss homeworld of Aiur, but the two escape the massive UED assault when Duran inexplicably moves his forces out of position and allows the Zerg to interfere with the operation. Having understood that the UED invasion had caused Mengsk, Raynor, and the Protoss to band together against a common foe, Stukov realizes that Duran's actions and the Zerg attack were too much to be a coincidence—the Zerg were also allied with the Terran Dominion and the Protoss, and Duran had been working to undermine the UED. While Stukov takes a contingent of troops and reconstructs the psi disrupter on Braxis, DuGalle is unaware of his intentions and becomes convinced that he is a traitor. The player helps Duran hunt down Stukov inside the psi disrupter, but before he dies, Stukov reveals to DuGalle that Duran is the real enemy. Duran flees after the player foils his attempt to sabotage the psi disrupter. Using the psi disrupter's capabilities, DuGalle and the UED are able to assault the Zerg world Char and take control of the new Overmind growing there.
The final section of Brood War sees the player helping Sarah Kerrigan defeat the UED. With the Overmind falling under the United Earth Directorate's command, all operations amongst native factions in the sector are damaged, including Kerrigan's forces. To begin the campaign against the Directorate forces, Kerrigan and Samir Duran form a reluctant alliance with Jim Raynor, Protoss praetor Fenix, and Arcturus Mengsk to destroy the psi disrupter. After destroying the psi disrupter, the player leads Kerrigan's forces in a full-scale assault on Korhal, quickly breaking the UED's hold over the planet. In the aftermath, Kerrigan betrays her allies, destroying a large number of Dominion forces and killing both Fenix and Mengsk's right-hand man, Edmund Duke. Angry at Kerrigan's betrayal, Raynor promises that he will kill her one-day and then retreats. Kerrigan travels with Duran to Shakuras and abducts Raszagal, who she uses to blackmail Zeratul into killing the Overmind on Char, thus bringing all Zerg forces under Kerrigan's control. Zeratul attempts to rescue Raszagal, but the player prevents their escape, and Zeratul eventually kills Raszagal when it becomes clear she has been irreversibly brainwashed by Kerrigan. At that moment it became clear that Aldaris's uprising in the first episode was an attempt to stop the brainwashed Raszagal from betraying her people any further. Upon leaving Char in search of Artanis, Zeratul stumbles upon a genetics facility run by Duran without Kerrigan's knowledge where a Protoss/Zerg hybrid is being developed. At the same time, Kerrigan is attacked on Char by the Dominion, the UED, and a vengeful fleet commanded by Artanis. Despite being outnumbered, Kerrigan defeats all three fleets and eradicates the surviving UED fleet, leaving her the dominant power in the sector. Before the UED fleet was wiped out, Admiral DuGalle sent a final message back to his family before committing suicide with his pistol. | violence | train | wikipedia | The best game ever.
The whole game is amazing.
You play as the 3 races again after the first Starcraft, this includes new units such as the Medic, Valkerie, Devouerer, Lurker, Corsair, Dark Archon and the Dark Templar, as well as new characters and upgrades.
The game is awesome and i recomend it.
The best thing ever about this game is the campaign editor and battle.net you can make any type of map and play it with friends over the internet for hours.
This is the sweetest game ever..
An excellent sequel to the original Starcraft.
A number of expansion packs lack the quality and focus of the original game, and one gets the feeling that it is just a cynical attempt of the developers to milk a few extra dollars out of fans of the original game.
This is certainly not true for Starcraft: Broodwar, it is obvious that a lot of effort was made by Blizzard to produce a expansion that is on par with the original game.
Starcraft: Broodwar felt more like a sequel than a mere expansion pack.The storyline of the single campaign is as detailed and interesting as the original and a few useful units were added for each race.
I only have two complaints, the first is that some of the missions are fiendishly difficult and there are a few times I had to resort to cheat codes to be able to finish the mission.
My other complaint is the shortage of cut scenes, there are basically only one for each campaign.
The developers took such a lot of effort with the storyline, why not follow it through with decent cinematics?
Overall, if you enjoyed the original Starcraft, don't miss out on Starcraft: Broodwar, if you didn't, Starcraft: Broodwar is not going to change your mind because it is essentially more of the same..
Real Time Strategy's finest (to date!).
Warcraft and Warcraft II, the predecessors of this game, changed the gaming world forever.
Blizzard introduced a whole new genre of PC games.With Starcraft, Blizzard proved that they could keep on applying their genius towards pushing forward real time strategy games in huge leaps of creativity and intricacy.
The game is simply brilliant, from the many ways the races and their respective technologies interact, to the engrossing storyline of the game.Perhaps most important was the introduction of BattleNet -- an online forum where Starcraft players from around the world have been dueling around the clock for years.
If you haven't played this game yet, it's time to check it out.(Don't forget the expansion pack, and watch for Warcraft III to be released Spring 2002.).
Just when you thought space was safe again.
This is the only add-on made for StarCraft, and it picks up where that left off.
There are almost as many levels, which is definitely seldom seen, and highly commendable.
The story is still great, but it doesn't quite measure up to the standard the game itself set, and parts of it just aren't that interesting or captivating.
It does continually develop, and getting to the end(of the overall plot) is worth it.
The campaigns aren't equally good, either, and I understand that not everyone cared for the very ending.
They do still have all the same voices, however.
A little of the dialog, and maybe also character writing, could have used some work.
The voice acting is still magnificent.
Several new characters join the fray, and they're not bad at all.
The number of cut-scenes in this is fairly underwhelming...
and they're not as well-done(if some are still pretty "large") as those of the game.
The level design is tough to argue with...
and the ideas behind the levels tend to be rather marvelous, as well...
there are even a place or two where you can make a choice that will affect the following level or the like.
There is the odd one out here and there, fights that...
just aren't that spectacular, but not many.
There are a few that have well-thought out concepts behind them, and these were, to me, by far the most fun.
The flaws and errors, still not *that* obvious in the grand scheme, remain.
I'm not sure sound and/or music really has a noticeable amount done to it, which is fine(if it ain't broke...).
The overall setup of StarCraft remains, with some differences.
The game-play is still entertaining and challenging.
The graphics remain the same, and I'm not certain that anything fresh is included to multi-player.
I do of course mean in addition to the one hundred new levels for it.
There are more environments herein, if not all that many.
Everything that is in this(and a few extra goodies, too!) seems to be added to the Campaign Editor simply through the regular installation, so for all of us who love to fiddle around with that, there are good news in that department(too).
as all faithful players of it know, the real excellence of the original lies mainly in how unique and yet equal the three sides are.
This is continued in this, where not only does every unit return, but each side get two more units, one air and one ground, and with them come further abilities(which are adequately introduced in the campaigns).
Each of the three air units are all anti-air, as far as attacks go, but their most effective use are like night and day...and...uh...and...an eclipse, something.
The Corsair, found in the army of the strongest technology, is effective against ground-based attacks, in particular static defenses, due to its ability, the Disruption Web, which renders anything within its area of effect unable to attack, within the duration.
The human-controlled Valkyrie is best against groups of enemy fliers, and as such, can be used to either force them to scatter, or take them down fast.
Finally, the Devourer, of the other extra-terrestrial race, can be a real pest against anything else that isn't grounded, not only due to its speed and power, but also the lasting effects of its acid spores.
The three ground units are mighty different from one another, as well...
the Terrans get a Medic, who, in addition to healing, can also Restore, which dispels any(seriously, as far as I've been able to tell, *any*) negative ability used against the unit that you cast it on, and can use their Optical Flare to Blind...
Observers and regular units alike(it'll severely limit the line of sight of the unit on the receiving end of it).
The Zerg get the Lurker, which is essentially a burrowed(!)(and when not, it's mobile) version of the Sunken Colony(almost adding another dimension of danger to ignoring the possibility of Zerg burrowing).
Last, but by no means, no stretch of the imagination, least, is the Dark Archon, for the Protoss.
Apart from Feedback(basically instant death to any enemy that has energy) and Maelstrom(which, granted, is perhaps a little...
misplaced, as far as sides go, they already have something like that, if they were going to make another, it should maybe have gone to the Zerg, instead), which freezes the target(s!) in place, they have a devious, useful and fun one...
it's called Mind Control.
This baby(at this point, I'd like to make it perfectly clear to anyone reading this that it is not, in fact, an actual infant...
for those potential players out there who dread their parenting and child-care skills, you can relax again) will take over any single enemy hit by it, and yes, this can, in fact, be used to get all three races in one battle.
Not everything about this expansion pack is positive, and it does not beat what it is a successor to...
but it does add, a lot of it is masterful, and there are improvements with the changes.
Strategies can now be (even) more intricate, and the game-play is more updated than altered, more like the next logical step, and more of the quality and brand that we already know and appreciate, than something...
alien(I know, I know, terrible, awful, cringe-inducing to the very extreme, but I could not help it).
This is worth a try(albeit I don't think I've seen a demo version...
whereas the predecessor to this not only has one, but it is stand-alone and is, more or less, a prologue...
*and* has multi-player) for anyone who liked the first.
Anyone who enjoyed making levels for it should also give thorough consideration to this.
I recommend this to, well, either and both, of the aforementioned groups(and maybe there's a healthy symbiosis of the two, as well as some that fit into both categories), and there are countless hours of playing, and/or creating, ahead.
Starcraft Completed.
This review contains spoilers for the single-player campaigns.Starcraft: Brood War is the expansion to Starcraft.
It is developed by Blizzard Entertainment.
The video game features the continuation to the story started by the original game in its single player campaign.
The multiplayer features additional units to each of the three races.The single player maintains the excellent standard set in the original game.
The single player starts with the Protoss fleeing to Shakuras, the Dark Templar homeworld.
The campaign continues following the Dark Templar, Zeratul and templar Artanis as they seek to expel the Zerg from their homeworld.
Kerrigan, freed from the Overmind's influence, has desires of her own.
The Protoss campaign is a great story of a race in exile as they try to rebuild.
The campaign captures many aspects of the Protoss and with Kerrigan's new found independence, the story has enough twists.
The next campaign follows the United Earth Directorate's assault into the Kropulu Sector.
The campaign has the player dismantle much of the original inhabitant's civilizations.
The campaign is more of a setup to the world with interesting aspects as the United Earth Directorate pacify the new forming Overmind.
The last campaign follows infested Kerrigan as she seeks to destroy the Overmind and United Earth Directorate.
The last campaign is a master stroke in story telling.
Kerrigan was already one of the more interesting characters from the original and this last campaign made her the best character Blizzard had written until this point.
Kerrigan establishes herself as the queen of the universe through playing each of the other factions against one another.Gameplay wise the single player uses its formula of attack, defense, and special operations through its campaigns.
The player will know how the new units work using them, and against them.
The missions offer a good challenge with the Zerg campaign being the hardest.The multiplayer is much more balanced than the original.
The new units give each of the races more variety in their strategies.
For example, Terran player can now use stimpak on their marines and firebats more liberally when accompanied by a medic.
Protoss players can use the corsair to fend off aerial attacks with its area of effect air attack.
Zerg has the devourer which aids in the destruction of capital ships.
The multiplayer is incredibly well designed and has great replay-ability.Overall Starcraft: Brood War is a great expansion pack.
It is a must have to anyone that enjoyed the original Starcraft.
I highly recommend this game.Four stars out of four stars.An e sports retrospectiveStarcraft: Brood War was unique for being one of the first televised video games.
In South Korea, this game was incredibly popular as the multiplayer one versus one scene was highly competitive and fun to watch.
I saw many Korean games and could appreciate the high level the games were played at.
For anyone interested in catching up on e-sports, I would recommend finding pro matches and appreciate how the professionals optimize each of the races.
They are able to use the units in a special manner and it makes the game exciting.Starcraft RemasteredStarcraft Remastered is a remake of Starcraft and its expansion Brood War with high definition sprites and resolutions.The exact same game play from the old games is here but with a modern polish.
Every unit and building looks crisp and still maintains that distinct look and feel.
The cut scenes have not been redone but the resolution for them has been increased.
The same bugs or features depending on your view are still here.
The multiplayer does have some quality of life improvements, with a matchmaking features to make even games.
Finding an opponent is easier in the update.
There are some downsides such as bugs in its multiplayer and if one is a serious player, I would recommend waiting for more information concerning the multiplayer.
Overall I would recommend this remaster.Three stars out of four stars..
Starcraft: Brood War (the Saga).
One word for this game.
Extraordinary.
The concept was pretty much deep in the SCI-FI universe and the gameplay was simple and easy to learn.
The Campaigns were the best added episodes for the three races.
The adding of UED Admiral Gerard DuGalle, Vice-Admiral Stukov, praetor Artanis and all others were a great force of strike.
Anyways, the formidable work is from the missions and the campaigns which are nicely done with betrayals and accomplishments.Cinematics were unforgettable.
The Intro about when the UED abandoned their soldiers on the Battlefield reflected such a reality in War's ground.
The Ending, the suicide of Admiral DuGalle was giving some questions about "Who's left" the Zerg are unstoppable.
A lot humor was present and a lot of charismatic dialogs which are too simply funny.
Battle.Net was a link to the Internet cooperatives with many other players especially with friends.
The Link with Battle.net was described that Starcraft had been the Game N1. |
tt0101373 | At Play in the Fields of the Lord | A pair of explorers, Lewis Moon and Wolf, become stranded in Mãe de Deus (Portuguese: Mother of God), an outpost in the deep Brazilian Amazon River basin, after their plane runs out of fuel.
The local police commander wants the Niaruna tribe, living upriver, to move their village so they won't be killed by gold miners moving into the area and cause trouble for him with the provincial government. The commander cuts a deal with Moon: if he and his fellow mercenary would bomb the Niaruna village from the air and drive them away, they will be given enough gasoline for their airplane to be allowed to leave.
Born-again Christian evangelist (and missionary) Martin Quarrier and his wife Hazel arrive with their son Billy, here to spread the Christian gospel to the primitive Niaruna indigenous natives. They arrive in Mãe de Deus to meet fellow missionaries Leslie and Andy Huben, who live with a Niaruna helper. In town, they meet a Catholic priest who wants to re-establish a mission to the Niarunas, as the former missionary was killed by them.
Moon and Wolf leave in their plane to attack the Niaruna. But upon seeing the community with his own eyes as well as an Indian firing an arrow at the plane, Moon has second thoughts. The plane returns to Mãe de Deus.
That night, after a discussion with Wolf, Quarrier and the priest, Moon takes an Indian drug and becomes hallucinatory. He takes off alone in his plane and parachutes into the Niaruna village. Moon, a half-Native American Cheyenne, aligns himself with the Niarunas. He is accepted as "Kisu-Mu", one of the Niaruna gods, and begins to adapt to Niaruna life and culture.
The four evangelists travel upriver to establish their mission. Indians originally converted by the Catholics turn up, awaiting the arrival of the Niaruna. Eventually they do come and accept the gifts that the Quarriers offer, not staying long.
Young Billy dies of blackwater fever (a serious complication of malaria), causing Hazel to lose her sanity. She is returned to Mãe de Deus. Martin becomes despondent, arguing with Leslie and gradually losing his faith.
Meanwhile, Moon encounters Andy swimming nude. After they kiss, Moon catches her cold. He returns to the Niaruna camp and inadvertently infects everyone there. Much of the tribe becomes sick. Moon and the tribe's leaders go to the missionary Leslie to beg for drugs.
Leslie refuses, but Martin agrees to provide the drugs. He travels to the Niaruna village with the missionaries' young helper. In the village, after Martin speaks with Moon, helicopters arrive to begin bombing. Martin survives the bombing, but is killed by his helper soon thereafter. Moon is exposed not as a god but as a man. He runs, ending up alone. | insanity, psychedelic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0118954 | Deconstructing Harry | One night, Lucy (Judy Davis) gets a taxi to the home of author Harry Block (Woody Allen). She has just read Harry's latest novel. In the novel, the character Leslie (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is having an affair with her sister's husband Ken (Richard Benjamin). Lucy is angry because the novel is patently based on her and Harry's own affair; as a result, everyone knows about it. Lucy pulls a gun out of her purse, saying she will kill herself. She then turns the gun on Harry and begins firing. She chases him out onto the roof. Harry insists that he has already been punished: his latest girlfriend Fay (Elisabeth Shue) has left him for his best friend Larry (Billy Crystal). To distract Lucy, Harry tells her a story he is currently writing: a semi-autobiographical story of a sex-obsessed young man named Harvey (Tobey Maguire) who is mistakenly claimed by Death.
In therapy, Harry realizes he has not changed since he was a sex-obsessed youth. Harry discusses the honoring ceremony at his old university, taking place the next day; he is particularly unhappy that he has nobody to share the occasion with. After the session, Harry asks his ex-wife Joan (Kirstie Alley) if he can take their son Hilliard (Eric Lloyd) to the ceremony. She refuses, stating that Harry is a bad influence on Hilliard. She is also furious at Harry for the novel he wrote. In it, the character Epstein (Stanley Tucci) marries Helen (Demi Moore), but the marriage begins to crumble after the birth of their son.
Harry runs into an acquaintance, Richard (Bob Balaban), who is worried about his health. After accompanying Richard to the hospital, Harry asks him to come to the university ceremony. Richard appears uninterested. Harry then goes to meet his ex-girlfriend Fay, who reveals that she is now engaged. Harry begs Fay to get back together with him. He asks Fay to accompany him to his ceremony, but it clashes with Fay's wedding, scheduled the following day.
That night, Harry sleeps with a prostitute, Cookie (Hazelle Goodman). Harry then asks Cookie to accompany him to his ceremony.
In the morning, Richard unexpectedly arrives to join Harry and Cookie on the journey. On a whim, Harry decides to "kidnap" his son Hilliard. Along the way, they stop at a carnival, then at Harry's half-sister Doris's (Caroline Aaron). Doris, a devoted Jew, is upset by Harry's portrayals of Judaism in his stories, as is her husband (Eric Bogosian). During the journey, Harry also encounters his fictional creations Ken and Helen, who force him to confront some painful truths about his life. Just before arriving at the university, Richard dies peacefully in the car.
Distressed, Harry literally slides out of focus, becoming blurred like one of his own fictional characters. Cookie helps him restore focus. The university's staffers gush over Harry, asking what he plans to write next. He describes a story about a man (based on himself) who journeys down to Hell to reclaim his true love (based on Fay) from the Devil (based on Larry - both being played by Billy Crystal). Harry and the Devil engage in a verbal duel as to who is truly the most evil of the two. Harry gets as far as arguing that he is a kidnapper before the story is interrupted by the arrival of the police. Harry is arrested for kidnapping Hilliard, for possessing a gun (it was Lucy's), and for having drugs in the car (belonging to Cookie).
Larry and Fay come from their wedding to bail Harry out of jail. Harry reluctantly gives them his blessings. Back at his apartment, a miserable Harry fantasizes that the university's ceremony is taking place. Harry realizes that he can only function in art, not in life. The film ends with Harry returning to his writing. | psychedelic, humor | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0489015 | Dangerous Men | The plot of Dangerous Men is somewhat unclear, and changes abruptly towards the middle of the film.
Mina (Melody Wiggins) and her fiancé, Daniel (Coti Cook) are walking on a beach when two bikers, named Tiger and Leo, set upon them. They kill the fiancé and attempt to rape Mina. In the struggle, Leo is killed and Tiger goes to leave the beach. Mina insists that he take her along, secretly plotting his murder.
After taking Mina for a steak dinner at a motel, Tiger retires with her to their room. Mina distracts Tiger by having him rub her knees and lick her bellybutton before producing a knife hidden in her buttocks and stabbing him to death, taking revenge for her fiancé.
Mina flees into the desert, where she is picked up by a British man driving a pickup truck. The driver pulls over and attempts to rape Mina at gunpoint. She threatens to castrate him with her knife and sends him off, nude, to wander the desert. The film follows him for approximately 5 minutes as he narrates his own misfortune, occasionally addressing his own penis. He is seen singing and dancing as he wanders about. Eventually a van passes him by and he is pelted with garbage.
Mina visits a prostitute and asks her to teach her to be "one of the girls of the night"- a ruse which she uses to kill several potential Johns with her knife. Mina's campaign of murders is reported on the news and comes to the attention of the police.
A police detective (who is the brother of Mina's fiancé) begins investigating a biker gang (led by the as-yet unseen Black Pepper, played by Bryan Jenkins), despite nominally being on vacation. He pays a bartender $300 for information about the bikers. Later, the detective tails one biker onto the beach where he is attempting to rape a young woman (Annali Aeristos). The detective chokes him into unconsciousness.
In the next scene, the biker gang is driving in a convoy. The biker from the previous scene is distracted by the young woman he failed to rape- who is sunning herself on the hood of a car by the roadside. Unbeknownst to him, the detective is concealed in the car, wearing a bulletproof vest and motorcycle helmet. When the biker pulls over to once again attempt to rape the young woman, the police detective attempts to intervene. However, he spends several minutes attempting to extricate his foot which is stuck under a seat. Eventually he frees himself and chokes the biker into unconsciousness.
The detective drives away with the biker bound in his back seat. He learns Black Pepper's location and drives to the foot of the hill where his house is located.
In an unrelated scene, Mina is arrested by several other police officers in a public park.
In the house, Black Pepper and a young woman watch a belly dancer perform. They then retire to Black Pepper's bedroom. They are interrupted in an amorous moment by one of Black Pepper's subordinates who tells him the police have arrived. After a fight in the house, Black Pepper flees into the brush and is pursued by the police chief.
The chief chases Black Pepper through a small cave and into a neighboring house. Black Pepper is poised to rape the young blind woman who lives in the house. However, she produces a pistol from under her sewing and starts firing at Black Pepper. Shortly after, the chief arrives and arrests Black Pepper. The film abruptly ends on a freeze frame. | revenge | train | wikipedia | Truly awfully great..
I, like most people I assume, wandered into a screening of this film because it fit the time slot and was totally obscure.
I went with four other buddies and I must say we were blow away by how unbelievably terrible it was and how much fun we had at the same time.
Saw it again on Saturday at the Lamelle Sunset and it was even better the second time.
We spoke with John S.
Rad, he's taking Dangerous Men on tour and putting out a DVD, Dangerous Men even has a myspace address, everyone should look it up, he also has a dozen more movies and some music and poetry.
If anyone you know has seen this movie you will have the keen ability of telling inside jokes at the expense of Dangerous Men for a life time, which is worth it's weight in gold.
To sum up, this movie is terrible and obviously John Rad had a tough time figuring out what he really wanted to do, but I feel that future projects, hopefully, can only be better and Dangerous Men is a great time at the theatre even if it's an atrociously awful film..
It's No Samurai Cop....
This is one of the worst films I have seen.
Not good.
Not "bad good." Not "so bad it's good." Just bad.
Not quite as bad as The Creeping Terror, Monster-A-Go-Go or The Guy From Harlem, but right up there as one of the premiere entries in the hall of amateurishness.
Unlike in something like Samurai Cop, which has a light tone and jokes in spite of (or more accurately, probably because of) its status as a low budget Lethal Weapon ripoff, Dangerous Men doesn't have any intentional humor (except for maybe the naked guy covering himself up with tree branches) and is trying to be the next Death Wish.
Only it fails so miserably on all accounts, it makes Ed Wood look like David Lean.
There is really nothing to recommend it.
The writing and directing are horrible.
The actors are all painful to look at.
Segments shot 20 years apart mean suddenly we're back in 1982, oops no wait, we jumped forward again.
The story construction is abysmal and makes no sense, since segments shot decades apart were attempted to be stitched together into a single story (hackmeister Al Adamson was famous for doing this, but at least his movies weren't shot 20 years apart!).
The sex scenes are not sexy.
And that MUSIC!
Not since Mesa of Lost Women has there been a more repetitive, annoying soundtrack.
At least that wasn't composed on a Casio keyboard bought on lay-away from Sam Ash Music, like this piece of tripe.When you're treated to an opening credit sequence promising one person as writer, producer, director, editor, composer, art director and costume designer (at least he didn't make himself the lead actor), you know you're in for trouble.
I didn't heed the warning, and I paid the price.
Please heed my warning.
Unless you are the most masochistic consumer of z-grade film atrocities imaginable, please stay away from DANGEROUS MEN..
Yes...
its worst than Tommy Wiseau's "The Room".
What is to be said about the movie that would make Ed Wood vomit with rage?
This film did not just blindside me, it actually blinded me.
The "Dangerous Men" poster boasts itself as an "Unforgettable Suspense, Mystery Drama" (yes "mystery drama" what is it about!?) with pictures of actors who do not occupy more than 20 minutes of screen time!
Over half the names of the actors and crew (when not credited to John Rad) are pseudonyms which means this film is fortunate to house or cage such great talent as Melody Wiggins, Paul Arnold, Honey Goldberg, Hunter Person, Gil Gex, Elle Squadrito, and the prestigious Lawrence McNeal III to name too many.
People this film is literally inches away from being "Deep Throat" at least thank god it limps out before it can even get that far.
Okay bare with me...
Filming began in 1985 only to be shut down because of lack of funding or too many actor/actress suicides (we should at least assume so) then in 1995 to be refinanced and reshot in a desperate attempt to resolve the "story" with different characters of no logical connection!
Filled with belly button fetishes, nonsensical storytelling and repetitious music that would upstages its pornographic mentors "Dangerous Men" is by far the worst film I have ever seen and trust me, I LOVE "The Room" but Jesus Christ there is only so far a man can go.
I've seen it three times to prove to my friends that such a film exists and have vowed never to go again.
I mean it.
It hurts.
I am not writing this review to praise but rather to WARN.
Stay away!
Trust me.
This movie is good for a laugh but really at what cost?.
Contrived and impossible to take seriously...although very entertaining.
What is there to say about Dangerous Men that hasn't already been said about Afghanistan?
The filmmaker, John S.
Rad, clearly set out to make the worst movie of all time, but it ended up entertaining me more than most films I've seen.
When watching it, I felt I was the butt of some sort of Emperor's-New-Clothes joke, but I couldn't help but laugh.
The acting and cinematography are reminiscent of the worst After School Special ever made.If you are willing to put aside the horrible cuts, dubbing, acting, and film-making technique in general, you might enjoy this surreal and absurd piece of work.
I found myself forgetting the finished product and instead wondered how Rad convinced these people (especially the women) to take part in such ludicrous and graphic sex scenes, considering there is no chance that anyone ever dreamed that this movie could make any money.I am glad to see that it is now on IMDb, after a direct challenge from LA Weekly.
Even though the attempt to make it so was contrived, it deserves to be a cult classic shown at midnight on screens across the country..
Totally Rad...JOHN RAD.
I've had the pleasure of seeing this opening night, and again a couple weeks later.
I can truly see this as the next cult classic.
it had me laughing from start to finish.
Everything was perfect.
Some parts drag a bit, but it is truly an experience.
The plot is mind bending, there's really no use of trying to follow it.
Throughout the movie you question yourself whether this John Rad guy is for real, or its just a joke.
The soundtrack, composed by John Rad himself on an 80s Casio keyboard, is astoundingly genius.
I couldn't help but snap my fingers to the rhythm.
If you are light-hearted and can easily accept the film for what it is, then you will enjoy watching Dangerous Men..
Has to be seen to be believed.
I didn't know about this movie until I came across a negative review of it on rogerebert.com.
I read the review and became curious.
Well, I've now seen the movie twice.
"Dangerous Men" is one of those movies that's so bad it's good, like "The Room" (2003) and "Troll 2".
It's a movie that you watch with your friends and talk.
Maybe get some snacks, some booze, and some weed.The movie was made by Jahangir Salehi, but I guess he preferred to use the pseudonym John Rad. Yes, Rad. John Rad is almost the only name in the opening credits and it amusingly appears multiple times along with music that might get stuck in your head.
What's the movie about?
Good question.
It's partly about a woman who's fiancé is murdered by a biker on a beach.
She goes with the biker to a motel to have sex, I guess, but she literally pulls a knife out of her ass and kills him.
While in a desert, she hitchhikes with a man who happens to have a gun in his vehicle.
He drives off-road and attempts to rape her, but she ends up stealing his vehicle and leaving him in the desert naked.
Now, for some reason, the movie keeps following him and, for some reason, he talks to his penis and, for some reason, he sings and dances.
Again, I am not kidding.
Again, I am not kidding.
The woman becomes a serial killer who kills men.
I guess these men are dangerous, but I'm not entirely sure.The movie's quite a mess.
It jumps around a lot and it's not well edited.
There are moments when the movie will just cut to something else, but the editing can be funny.
There's a scene with a man talking on the phone and the movie just cuts to him making out with a woman who I think he was talking to on the phone.
It's just so odd and surprising that you might as well laugh.
There are jump cuts during a sex scene with a man named Black Pepper that I just don't understand.
Why is the scene edited this way?
It's not stylish.
It's amateurish.
Well, the whole movie is amateurish.
The acting is pretty bad.
The fight scenes are incredibly unconvincing.
"Miami Connection" has better fighting.
Someone in "Dangerous Men" says that Black Pepper has killed more people than the Vietnam War. Um, what?
He's killed more people than the people who died in the Vietnam War?
Apparently, over a million people died in that war.
It would be incredible (and horrible) if someone single-handedly killed over a million people.
You might be thinking that the guy who said that is exaggerating, but with this movie, I'm not so sure.
When I first saw the movie, the ending confused me.
The movie ends abruptly on a rather awkward freeze frame.
Not a good way to end your movie."Dangerous Men" is entertaining trash.
I enjoyed it when I saw it on my own and I enjoyed it more when I saw it with a couple of friends.
It's quite amusing.
The fighting's amusing, the music's amusing, the naked man in the desert's amusing, etc.
I wanna see it again and again..
Should be bigger than "The Room".
Like Tommy Wiseau's THE ROOM, John S Rad's DANGEROYS MEN seems to exist in it's own world, completely devoid of self-awareness.
This lack of self-awareness, in both cases results in cinema which isn't afraid to break the rules (mostly because it isn't aware of the rules), which is at the same time completely "authentic" in its ineptitude.
THE ROOM has gone on to become a household name while DANGEROUS MEN is still very much a cult title.
DANGEROUS MEN is certainly the more entertaining of the two films and the John S Rad story is as deserving of a Hollywood treatment a'la THE DISASTER ARTIST.
I saw this movie when I received a review copy of the DVD from Drafthouse.
I went into it knowing nothing about it.
It is the first time I ever finished a movie and then started it over and rewatched it immediately a second time because I couldn't believe what I had just seen.
It was a huge inspiration, especially after hearing John Rad's story.
I dedicated my first film, THE THETA GIRL, to John S Rad in the end credits..
The Greatest Film Ever Made....
I have found religion.
Dangerous Men has filled the hole in my soul.
This is the sort of absurdist film that would be praised beyond all belief if only it were the director's true intention to make the film that Dangerous Men actually turned out to be.
No matter how much you hear about this film, nothing can compare to the actual experience.
Even if I tell you that mountains explode, people grow beards in 3 seconds, men read from scripts that are plainly visible in the shot, bad guys get knocked out by scalp massages, women transport knives in the cracks of their buttocks, plots are abandoned ten minutes after being formed, title sequences contain no other name than "John S.
Rad," nude men dance with cedar leaves in the desert, or that the same "punch...ah!" sound effect is used 24 times in a 30 second period, NOTHING will compare to seeing it all on the big screen.
With a soundtrack that I can only describe as "THE Christ IN MUSICAL FORM," Dangerous Men is proof that there is a God. His name is John S.
Rad. You deserve all that "special thanks" you gave yourself..
Funny Time Waster.
This film has been developing a bit of a cult rep in the area of "so bad it's good" films.
The fact that "John Rad" was a bit of an eccentric weirdo seems to have helped the cause.
Indeed, the stagijng of the attempted rape/murder is the
funniest part.
Yes, there are funny bits, and you can't help but giggle a bit at the terrible score.
On the whole, though, it's not that different than many a Crown International stinker of a slightly earlier time and not as much fun as many (the great "Death Machines" comes to mind) of them.
It could well be that a certain nostalgia for this kiind of terrible film is what propels this cult.
The triumph of the film being in one theater for a week seems to what has sparked a lot of interest.
in the end, funny, but forgettable. |
tt0107126 | Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby | After Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm get married and move to Hollyrock, Fred and Barney are both working overtime for Mr.Slate, and Wilma and Betty now own a food delivery service called 'Bone Appetite', but much to Fred's disgust, Wilma is not there to cook for him, he cooks his own TV dinners as well as Barney's.
One day, the Flintstones and the Rubbles go to Hollyrock to visit their children, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm (who is trying his luck at being a screenwriter), after Pebbles reveals that she and Bamm-Bamm are going to have a baby. During the visit, they drive Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm crazy by telling them what to do now that Pebbles is going to have a baby.
Meanwhile, Fred and Barney try to help Bamm-Bamm sell his script, but end up in a mess with a robbery of a giant pearl when it is mistaken for a bowling ball. Big Rock sends his henchmen Rocky and Slick to recover the giant pearl. Fred and Barney manage to get the tickets to a taping of a show at ABC studios in hopes to sell Bamm-Bamm's script. Fred and Barney encounter Shelley Millstone in hopes to have her for Bamm-Bamm's film. It doesn't go well and the security guard is called in to eject them. A chase begins throughout the ABC studios and they eventually get thrown out.
Meanwhile, Wilma and Betty are designing a nursery when Pebbles reveals that she is attending the premiere of "It Came From the Tar Pits" starring Craig Craigmore. Fred and Barney decide to take the advantage by finding someone to buy the screenplay. Rocky and Slick also slip in to get to Shelley Millstone in an attempt to get the giant pearl. Bamm-Bamm mistakes Slick and Rocky for movie producers. When they find Fred's car, they are attacked by Dino. Back at the party, Fred tries to get to Shelly Millstone, which ends up with Craig Craigmore being injured. The next day, Pebbles has Fred attend a baby training seminar while she does paperwork for her boss, Mr. Pyrite.
With Bamm-Bamm exhausted, Barney attends in Bamm-Bamm's place. Slick and Rocky follow Fred to the baby training seminar where Slick and Rocky infiltrate the class. It soon breaks up into a fight which ends up with Fred, Barney, Slick, and Rocky being thrown out. After a call from Rocky, Big Rock gets impatient and decides to take over the operation. Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm declare themselves unready for the baby after they were busy. Fred and Wilma try to get Pebbles to calm down until she breaks down. The next day while Fred apologies to Pebbles about being too helpful, Pebbles attends a baby shower which Wilma's mother Pearl also attends. Pearl sends Fred and Barney to get the baby supplies. At the grocery store, they end up gaining a lot of "Maps to the Stars' Homes" and decide to take another shot at Shelly Millstone.
Later that night, Fred and Barney sneak into Shelly's property and distract the guard dogs. Rocky and Slick show Big Rock the house where Fred and Barney are staying and mistake Pearl for Fred when they abduct her. The next morning, Fred confesses to Bamm-Bamm that he lost the script in Shelley Millstone's yard. They soon return a call from Big Rock who demands the giant pearl in exchange for Pearl's freedom. They are forced to give them the pearl for the exchange. They disguise a bowling ball as the pearl when they forget the giant pearl.
Pebbles goes into labor and they drive a bus towards the hospital with Big Rock, the real bus driver, and the painter of the bike the bus driver borrowed. There is a high speed chase which attracts the local cops. Fred finally makes it to the hospital and Pebbles is taken into the hospital fast. Big Rock, Rocky, and Slick catch up to them and Bamm-Bamm arrives to take them down as the cops arrest the crooks. Pebbles gives birth to twins, Roxy (who has muscular strength like her father) and Chip (who has his Grandpa Flintstone's mouth because he's another chip off the old Flintstone). As for Bamm-Bamm's script, Mr. Pyrite manages to get the script to Craig Craigmore. Shelly Millstone arrives and Bamm-Bamm allows her to star in his film. Fred and the others head back to Bedrock, leaving their children and grandchildren in happy harmony. | alternate history | train | wikipedia | Not All That Bad. I have never actually been a fan of "The Flinstones," but this movie is the cutest thing I have ever watched. The thought of Pebbles and Bamm Bamm becoming parents is like a fan fiction come to life. It's just adorable. The animation is excellent and the characters have a certain charm to them. After seeing "I, Yabba Dabba Do," which was also good, on TV a couple times, I stumbled across a clip of this movie and just had to see it. I'm glad I did. Sure, the cartoon's not without its flaws, but they're drowned out by the sweet and tender nature it has to offer.I give "Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby" an 8/10.. Absolutely Pointless. After Bam-Bam Rubble and Pebbles Flintstone get married, Pebbles becomes pregnant and gives birth to twins. It's basically a story that someday all kids will have to grow up and stop having fun at some point, which will just terrify them. I say we keep them away from the real world AS LONG AS POSSIBLE (God knows I could have used it).. Bedrock Lays in Shambles. ...after this piece of prehistoric junk. Awful, awful TV movie. Follow-up to the forgettable one where Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm get married. Everything is by the books here in regards to TV reunions: Wilma and Betty now own a catering business. Usually when we revisit beloved sitcom characters in TV reunion movies, the women are suddenly career women now working either as real estate agents or own a catering business. No one knows why, but it is an unwritten law to which all bad TV reunion writers must adhere. Pebbles works at an ad agency. Hoo boy. And Bamm-Bamm wants to be a successful screenwriter, evidently channeling the dreams of whoever wrote this piece of junk. What's even more offensive are the voices and character design. Jean Vander Pyl was the only surviving original (main) cast member, and she's fine (though H&B had the annoying and wholly unnecessary habit of electronically "sweetening" her voice for about the last ten years of Flintstones productions she worked on.). John Stephenson returns as Mr. Slate, sounding almost exactly as he always has. Excellent. Don Messick does a quick cameo as baby Bamm-Bamm in a flashback. Nice. But - beware! - this is a Henry Corden-voiced cartoon, and as wonderful a character actor as Corden was, he was terrible as the voice of Fred, yet H&B would never admit it and recast anyone else until the amazing "The Flintstones: On the Rocks" TV movie 8 years later. Corden's bizarre take on "Yabba Dabba Doo!" ("Yappa, dappa-doo!") must have Alan Reed rolling over in his grace. Surprisingly, we've got Frank Welker as Barney & Dino. "Surprisingly" because Frank Welker is versatile and very talented and the voice director (Gordon Hunt in "I just don't care anymore" mode) has managed to find the two voices Welker cannot do to save his life. Barney's frequent, all-but-involuntary chuckling that punctuates the end of a lot of his lines makes Mr. Rubble sound like he's suffering from emphysema. Dino, too, no longer barks, evidently having had his vocal cords removed, but instead wheezes. Would it have killed the producers to pay Mel Blanc's estate some money and just drop in some old audio of Dino barking and yapping and growling from the original series? The character design is atrocious. Wilma and Betty no longer have feminine figures but instead have bodies that resemble men in drag. Fred's head and nose in particular bear very little resemblance to any of the models they used in the original series. I saw this when it originally aired and was mortified. I just caught the first 15 minutes on Boomerang this afternoon and couldn't bear to watch any more. Horrible production; typical of late H&B cartoons and cartoon movies. Avoid it at all costs. |
tt0346681 | Cama de Gato | Imagine a strong and tender hearted woman, a confused man, and a villain capable of anything for money. We have the perfect love triangle for a classic love story. Cat‘s Cradle tells the tale of a man that hits rock bottom and manages to bounce back through true love. Gustavo, once a poor, kindhearted youngster, is now a successful entrepreneur in the perfume business but has turned cruel, arrogant, and miserable. Alcino, his best friend and business partner, helped him achieve his present success. When Alcino finds out that has a fatal disease and has a few months to live, he decides to play a prank on Gustavo to help him rediscover the decent man he once was and the joy of living he once possessed. Gustavo is married to Veronica, a rich, selfish, spoiled, and ambitious woman who has never loved her husband. Alcino's prank takes an unexpected turn when Veronica, the story‘s great villain, interferes, manipulates the surprise, and makes Gustavo lose almost everything after being taken for dead and accused of a crime. While trying to pick up the pieces of his life, Gustavo meets Rose, a simple, hard-working woman who raises four kids by herself with great spirit and optimism. Because of her good heart, she starts to help Gustavo to put his life back together. Gradually, Gustavo and Rose develop feeling for each other, leading our hero to rediscover his humanity through the hands of this newfound love. A contemporary and urban soap opera, Cat‘s Cradle blends suspense, plot twists, surprises, redemption, and romance to produce a stirring story of love, life, and rebirth. Cat’s Cradle: An entrapment opens the doors to redemption. | violence, murder | train | wikipedia | Unspeakably bad, verbose, pretentious moralist trash.
Though I'd heard that "Cama de Gato" was the worst Brazilian movie of the decade, I watched it giving it a chance; after all, first-time director/producer/writer Alexandre Stockler managed to make his debut feature (shot in video) for just US$ 4,000 and -- though it looks even cheaper -- I can't begin to imagine all he went through to finally get it exhibited in theaters with no big sponsors or production companies behind it (then as I watched it I realized why).
But whatever chances you're ready to give to "Cama de Gato", they shrink to zero within 10 minutes: it's an unbelievably preposterous, verbose, ideologically fanatical and technically catastrophic attempt to portray Brazilian upper-middle class youth as a bunch of spoiled neo-Nazis hooked on bad sex, drugs and violence (and they're made to look like closeted gays too), made with no visible trace of talent, imagination, expertise or notion of structure.
Visually and aurally, it recalls the worst amateur stuff you can find on YouTube -- only here it lasts NINETY TWO (count'em) minutes of unrelenting hysteria and clumsiness, and it's not even funny-bad.We've all seen the story before: bored young guys want to have fun, go partying, take drugs and everything goes wrong -- there's gang-rape, spanking, murder, the accidental death (falling down the staircase!!) of the mother of one of the boys, culminating with the boys deciding to burn the corpses of the girl and the mother in a garbage landfill.
Moral and literal garbage, get it?
The film is heavily influenced by Larry Clark (especially "Kids" and "Bully"), but Clark's films -- though also moralist and sexploitative -- are high-class masterworks compared to this crap.I don't think there was ever such monomaniacal drive in a filmmaker to stick his ideas down the audience's throat: Stockler grabs us by the collar and tries to force his non-stop moralist rant into our brains by repetition and exhaustion -- you DO get numb-minded with so much babbling, yelling, inept direction, shaky camera and terrible acting going on.
Stockler doesn't care a bit about technique (the quality of the images, framing, sound recording, soundtrack songs, dialog, sets, editing, etc is uniformly appalling), but he's a narcissistic control-freak: he anticipates the criticisms he's bound to get by adding subtitles with smartie/cutie comments, and by making the protagonists comment at one point how far-fetched and phony it all is (I could relate to THAT).
Despite his megalomaniac ambitions, Stockler seems incapable of giving us a minimum of visual or narrative structure -- he can't even decide if he wants gritty realism (hand-held video camera etc) or stylization (repetition of scenes, use of alternate takes, etc).
Damn, he can't even decide WHERE to put his camera (there's use of subjective camera for the THREE leads)!
The dialog features some of the most stupefyingly banal verbosity ever; the plot exists simply to justify the director's profound hatred for his characters and what they stand for.
All you see is a filmmaker being hateful, preachy, condemning, moralizing without the benefit of a minimum of talent (or technique) to go with it.It's very disappointing to find Caio Blat in this mess.
Certainly one of the most promising young film actors in Brazil, with his sleepy-eyed puppy dog looks and emotional edge that often recall Sal Mineo's, Blat can be highly effective under good direction (as in "Carandiru", "Lavoura Arcaica", "Proibido Proibir").
Here, he's told to go over the top and he has to play with some of the most embarrassingly under-equipped "actors" in recent memory.
He also enters the risky realm of graphic sexploitation scenes (so goddawful they look rather like web-cam porn).The film opens and ends with real interviews with "typical" (?) middle-class youth -- Stockler wants us to take those interviews as "proof" of what he's trying to preach in fiction.
But he blatantly despises and makes fun of his interviewees, selecting a highlight of abject, racist, sexist, stupid statements (which only shows assholes exist everywhere).
Stockler wants to prove that Brazilian middle-class youths are ALL present or future fascists BECAUSE they're middle-class and enjoy recreational drugs (is he saying all neo-fascists are on drugs??
Or that drugs potentialize fascist behavior??
I couldn't tell).
With its dogmatic self-righteousness, headache-inducing technique and mind-bending boredom, "Cama de Gato" is bad for a 1,000 reasons but, above all, it's harmful in a very insidious manner: it gives detractors of Brazilian cinema a powerful case of argument.
"Cama de Gato" is best unwatched, unmentioned, buried and forgotten..
Overrated Pretentious Crap.
In São Paulo, the upper middle class teenagers Cristiano, Chico and Gabriel have just joined the university and on the eve of the opening class, they go to a party with drugs and booze.
On the next day, after their classes, the date of Cristiano in the previous night comes to his house and the three friends rape the girl.
The girl dies, they panic and decide to get rid off the body, but Cristiano's mother arrives, startles with Gabriel and rolls the staircase, breaking her neck.
The trio decides to dump and burn the corpses in a garbage landfill, but along the night other tragedies happen.The polemic and shameful "Cama de Gato" is an overrated pretentious crap about alienation of the youth, and is certainly the worst Brazilian movie that I have seen along many years.
The shallow, tragic and dark story is actually a black humor comedy of bad taste.
The screenplay is not funny, with stupid lines and dialogs, and boring, manipulative and silly footages with interviews with morons teenagers in the beginning and in the end.
The acting is terrible, apparently with many improvisations, but no talent, and I was disappointed with presence of the promising Caio Blat in this trash.
The camera, framing, cinematography and edition are amateurish and of very low quality.
The sound is awful and in many parts it is impossible to understand what the actors and actresses are speaking (probably it is a plus, since this flick sucks).
The gang bang is very realistic and used to promote this mediocre movie in a very poor marketing of sex-exploitation.
My vote is one (awful).Title (Brazil): "Cama de Gato" ("Bed of the Cat").
Good Directing.
Bad Acting..
"Cama de Gato" shot with practically no money, is the first feature lenght film from director Alexandre Stockler, and it covers one wild night in the life of three teenagers and the terrible consequences arisen from their what they consider "fun".While the necessity of such a film is dire, and it its pacing and mise én scene works remarkably well for such a small picture, the lack of preparation the actors had great hurts the experience.The portrayal of the three teenagers is stereotyped, bi-dimensional, unrealistic and even childish at times.
The three are rarely believable, including the experienced Caio Blat.One again, this film shows us how Brazil is filled with courageous and creative Directors, who unfortunately don't pay enough attention to the acting in their films.
This is a prime example of why "City of God" appealed to so many and why other films don't.Overall, a worthy attempt.
I shall be patiently waiting for other films related to the TRAUMA manifesto.6.5/10.
Maximum of Audacity, Minimum of Money.
I took the DVD by chance to home and had a wonderful surprise.
Well, there were some good reviews made by critics from important Brazilian papers and that was the only reason why I decided to watch it.
But, anyway, it didn't look very attractive to me at first sight.After the first 20 minutes, I thought "Damn, it's just another movie about teenagers snorting coke and stuff like that".
However, in the end of the movie, I was just like: "Jesus!
How could this man make such a great film with so little money?!" It's obvious that a film with practically no resources (13,000 Brazilian Reais, what, in 2002, was about 4,000 US dollars) has its defects.
The photography lacks quality and some dialogues are unnecessary.
But these "problems" only contribute to bring us the "Audacity" that Alexandre Stockler looks for.
The Brazilian director created a manifesto called TRAUMA (in English, Trying to Realize Anything Urgent with a Minimum of Audacity).
In Cat's Cradle there's certainly much more than a "Minimum of Audacity".
Using black humor and social criticism, Stockler alerts us about how sadly nihilistic and hedonistic our society became.
Although the movie may sound pessimistic, its realization shows the director's belief that it's still time to think what we want from our lives.
Let's wait for Alphavella, Stockler's next project.*If you have the DVD at home, take a look on the extras where you'll find an interview with the director and the complete interviews with young people which appear during the beginning and the end of the movie..
Cama De Gato (Cat's Cradle) is the best Brazilian film I've seen in the last 10 years.
It's very deep and still very funny, like the Brazilian society is, with all it's problems but still a great country with great people, but probably the worst politicians on earth.
Cama De Gato does not try to show the things differently as they are in reality, it makes philosophy with the ordinary life of three young upper middle class teenagers that get into big troubles just because they were looking for a "bit of fun"...
Very impressive and important film to understand a little more about this very complex society.
I'm very interested in Alexandre Stockler's next project..
One of the Best Brazilian Films ever.
Cama De Gato is probably the best Brazilian film ever.
It's funny, intelligent and make you think about the teenagers of the Brazilian upper middle classes that many times do stupid stuff with other people only because they know that their parents will do everything do let them free from the jail bars.
This film was censored in the Brazilian Theatres, but after long time in the Internet it became a big independent hit in Movies Theatres, DVDs and Internet.
Cama De Gato is one of the most important film made in Brazilian Film History.
The actor are great, the director is fantastic and the plot is amazing.
Simply the Best!
Simply the Best!
Simply the Best!
You can't miss it! |
tt0106307 | Arizona Dream | Axel (Johnny Depp) has a dream about an Eskimo who catches a rare halibut and brings it back to his family in an igloo. Axel's cousin Paul (Vincent Gallo) coaxes Axel from his job tagging fish in New York City to Arizona to attend his uncle Leo's (Jerry Lewis) trophy wedding to a much younger woman (Paulina Porizkova). His uncle tries to persuade him to stay permanently and take over the family business of selling Cadillacs. Axel resists at first, but he decides to give it a try.
Axel encounters two strange women: Elaine (Faye Dunaway), a woman who always had a dream of building a flying machine, and her stepdaughter Grace (Lili Taylor), who is jealous of Elaine and dreams of killing herself and being reincarnated as a turtle. Axel starts lusting after Elaine and decides to help make her dreams come true. As he and Elaine build the machine day by day, Grace starts destroying the contraption. Axel then rebuilds. Leo and Paul arrive at Elaine and Grace's house to encourage Axel to come back, but Elaine threatens them with a shotgun. Axel and Elaine complete the machine and test it, but it crashes in a tree.
Axel then decides to put both Elaine and Grace out of their misery, but can not go through with it. Grace has the idea to play Russian Roulette with him. Axel is scared at first, but at his second turn he pulls the trigger multiple times. The gun does not fire. Axel, Elaine, and Grace come to Paul's talent show. He decides to play Cary Grant's role from North by Northwest with the famous crop duster scene. Paul receives the score of 1. Leo's fiancee then approaches them to say that there is something wrong with Leo. Axel realizes that Leo is dying and calls an ambulance but Leo passes away.
The day before Elaine's birthday a few months later, Axel and Paul finally come back to Elaine and Grace's house. Elaine is mad at Axel for not contacting her but forgives him. The next day on Elaine's birthday, Elaine is given an airplane as a present. The four celebrate Elaine's birthday by beating a piñata, but are interrupted by a storm. As the others dry off inside, Grace remains outside to free her turtles, telling them to "Go play," Axel goes upstairs with Grace to wrap the presents where she gives Axel a globe, telling him that she wants him to have the world. Axel tells Grace that Elaine has changed and that he is not in love with her any more. He makes a promise to Grace to go to Alaska.
Axel, Elaine, Grace, and Paul talk about the manners in which they want to die. Grace says that she is going to sleep and walks upstairs, dressing herself in a white shift and a hat with a veil. As she walks outside, Axel and Elaine see her through the window and run outside in an attempt to stop her. Grace shoots herself, and a lightning bolt destroys Elaine's airplane. Sometime after Grace's death Axel breaks into Uncle Leo's abandoned Cadillac store at night and goes to sleep on top of a Cadillac with a cat that has just had her litter. The film ends with Axel and Uncle Leo as Eskimos in Axel's dream. They catch the halibut and discuss it. It flies from their hands into the sunrise. | comedy, cult, magical realism, absurd, psychedelic, philosophical, romantic | train | wikipedia | And so on.Arizona Dream, however, is different.The last movie I saw that was truly, in all aspects, perfect was Dog Day Afternoon, a 1975 true story starring Al Pacino and Chris Sarandon.
Your eyes will follow the camera angles, the expressions of the insanely lovable characters, the many things happening in foreground and background-and you know, you just KNOW, that you will have to watch the movie again, and again, and again.If you're a fan of movies such as Big Fish and Amélie, movies about people finding happiness and warmth in a world of surreal ambition, Arizona Dream will be your next obsession.
Saw this almost by accident at the age of 16 (it was the only thing on at the small town movie theater I was at, and hell, it had Johnny Depp in it, so why not?), and fell in love with the story, the acting and the directing.Opened up a whole new world to me, one where movies weren't just "Hollywood spectaculars" or "romantic comedies", and I promise, if nothing else, it'll give you something to think about, and something to discuss.
They are hard to watch, especially when they mix real characters that live their lives sometimes awaken, or inside one big dream or their own dreams.Axel Blackmar (Johnny Depp) is a dreamer, and an unusual example of personal choices.
Elaine's daughter, Grace (Lili Taylor) is also there, and it doesn't goes long until Axel finds himself in a crossroad between the heart of two women, that as he describes them, are "too similar and big to be in the same world".David Atkin's story and screenplay comes plagued of phrases that could come out of a lunatic's mouth, but they fit in the film's context and twist your head at maximum.
Known for his originality, recognized director Emir Kusturica puts his own signature to his movie, collaborating in the story he must have dreamed a little to; giving life to the dream with his flying camera, full of unexpected turns and in love of its surroundings.
I feel I have cheated on Dead Man. There are certain scenes in Arizona Dream that show things about Johnny Depp as a performer that I never would have suspected.
They say that "Arizona Dream" is Kusturica's best work because it is American, well, it's not that American despite it was filmed there and probably is about the American dream, it is just a story of people's lives, like in all Kusturica's films, and it's just a great work of a great film director, not depending on geographical factors.
Which is a shame, since it has an amazing cast of well known actors like Johnny Depp, Vincent Gallo, Faye Dunaway, Jerry Lewis and Lili Taylor.
There's also a floating fish throughout the movie, turtles, an attempted pantie hose suicide and a weird sex scene where Jonny Depp crows like a rooster (must be seen to be believed).
and not liking this movie is a error in taste.There's nothing else to add.We see here that the life of an artist has everything to do with his production, and that it is this very production that makes our lives artistic.Actors are splendid, the script is a masterpiece, the music is exactly what the movie needed, and the whole thing is a beauty bomb.
Arizona Dream is a movie that has Eskimos and a flying fish.It seems like a dream.And that dream includes Jerry Lewis.It's a surreal ride into a mind of Johnny Depp and all those weird people in his life.Depp is Axel Blackmar who comes to Arizona to his uncle Leo Sweetie's (Lewis) wedding.He's taken there by Paul Leger (Vincent Gallo).Paul's a movie buff.In a movie theater he speaks the lines of Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci in Raging Bull.And he does the crop duster scene made famous by Cary Grant in North by Northwest.In Arizona Axel meets a mature woman and her daughter.The mature woman is Faye Dunaway (Elaine Stalker) and the daughter is Lili Taylor (Grace Stalker).Emir Kusturica is the man behind Arizona Dream (1993).Johnny Depp was a young talent in 1993.The role of young Axel is just the right part for the man who picks unconventional roles.The funny man Jerry Lewis plays a part less funny this time as the car dealer uncle.But he can do that.He can mix the comic and the tragic matters very well.We all saw that in The King of Comedy (1983).Dunaway and Taylor are terrific as the quarreling mother and daughter.All the other people in this movie do a great job as well.In a minor part there's Michael J.Pollard who drives Jerry Lewis crazy.The music played in this movie is wonderful.There's Bésame Mucho, In The Deathcar is beautiful.Some people would call this a weird movie.I would call it...a weird movie.But sometimes weird is good..
I say this but by the end of the film I had certainly remembered why I could recall specific scenes and my enjoyment of them but had no strong memory of the total film – the reason being that the film is at its best in small chunks but fails to work as a whole.The story is this wonderfully off-the-wall tale of love and dreams that fires out outrageous characters with abandon, allowing for many memorable scenes and quotable lines.
Dunaway and Taylor both deliver their characters well and it is just a shame that their characters are the more "difficult" ones to like within the film – I think they did well though, I just acknowledge that I struggled with them due to their characters.As with all cult films there will be those that see great beauty in this film and love it beyond all reason.
However, reality becomes less and less of a point or actuality in the film as it paces through the lives of the characters centering on Johnny Depp's charecter.
Although the film seems like a dream on celluloid it also makes the viewer understand and more importantly empathise with the charecters and at the end the sadness is alleviated by the theme of life, that life goes on, almost in circles.
Weirder still is the cast of Johnny Depp, Jerry Lewis, Faye Dunaway, Lili Taylor, and Vincent Gallo.The word "dream" comes up at least a dozen times in this movie, characters recounting dreams, or the film seamlessly showing them on screen, and appropriately it begins with a ten minute dream sequence(You only know it's a dream sequence because you're told it is afterwards), of an Eskimo in the snowy wilderness, catching a strange fish with both eyes on the same side, the Eskimo later becomes sick and is nursed back to health by his wife.
I look at their souls and read their dreams and then I let them into my dreams." Then aspiring actor cousin Vinccent Gallo shows up, and asks Depp to come back to Arizona with him for his Uncle Jerry Lewis's wedding.
While Dunaway and her daughter are more two halves of the same person, stuck in an isolated country house, both with half the maturity and vitality the other needs.For the most part the movie is all comic smiles, and surreal shots of fish flying in the sky at random, but towards the end, the film takes somber tones, as the dream/relationships end.Not as dense and surreal as I had expected, but it does capture accurately the magical sensation of first love, especially with someone significantly older (without stepping on the toes of similar films like Harold And Maud or focusing too heavily on taboo).There were a few moments of emotional disconnect where the characters actions make little if any literal sense (the Russian roulette scene), but do give a greater sense of the contradictory emotions which almost all of the characters deal with, except Gallo, whose clearly just there for fun.Arizona Dream caught me off guard, the political allegory of Underground is replaced here with a very internal story of dreamy sensations, fleeting passions, conflicting dreams, conflicting loves, growing up, and magical fish.
The film also enjoys superb acting from Johnny Depp, painfully young and handsome at his first major role after Edward Scissorhands, Faye Dunaway mature and yet so beautiful, and Jerry Lewis probably in his last great role.
Johnny Depp is great, Faye Dunaway is marvelous, Lili Taylor is like a genius here, Jerry Lewis is a Lord, as always, and Vincent Gallo shows his talent to a very high rate.
Perhaps it's best if I just stay away from films like "Arizona Dreams" altogether.
In this film Johnny Depp proves why he is a great and possibly the most underated actor in the U.S.A. along side Faye Dunaway who is creative and moving as his love interest.
Lili Taylor is also great in this one too, she steals some scenes in it as well, Vincent Gallo's best work that I've seen, he is actually funny in a dead pan type of way.
Emir Kusturica films dreams,dreamers and all the things that matter in life..
Serbian director Emir Kusturica is a real entertainer whose films not only have serious messages but also have the potential to make viewers happy.His American debut film Arizon Dream is pure magic.It is one of the most famous American films made with European sensibilities.What we get to see in the film is the possibility to have a bemused look at the difficult lives of innocent dreamers and their idiosyncratic dreams.The reason why this film succeeds is because of its powerful cast which includes the most influential artists of American cinema.There are great actors like Johnny Depp,Jerry Lewis,Faye Dunaway and Vincent Gallo.The best thing about this film is the exploration of all things American.This is the reason why we get to see our leading players watch a film by Alfred Hitchcock which they even try to imitate.The definition of love also seems to have changed with this film.This fact cannot be explained as this film would have to be seen to understand that.All in all,a great film which needs to be seen more than once..
This movie is kind of like across between watching a foreign film, one made in a culture completely alien to your own, and watching someone else's dreams.It is such an bizarre film that I doubt some people would even be able to get through it.
Arizona Dream, screenplay by David Atkins and directed by Emir Kusturica is an absurd comedy with a surreal outlook on the intermingling lives of some very unusual characters.
The movie follow the characters through their quirky encounters and relationships which may or may not be in its entirety a fishes dream, as the simultaneous flashes into a surreal world suggest.
It is a little too long, but if you liked O Lucky Man, the only comparable film I have ever seen, you will enjoy Arizona Dream..
Depp at his best (well, as in many other films).Also great performances by the other three main actors (Lili Taylor, Faye Dunaway, Jerry Lewis).
The film, I suppose, if about anything, is about dreams: Depp's dream of Alaska snd the Eskimos and their fish; the great grandfather's dream of selling so many cars, that if stacked, they would be a pyramid reaching the moon; Vincent Gallo's dream to be an actor (which sets up for the only truly inspired moment in the film, his performance of the crop duster scene from "North by Northwest" at a competition); Elaine's dream of her flying machine, and so on...
when i saw this movie, i felt like flying...Letting my dreams run away in front of my eyes.The music is great.Johnny Depp is marvelous.(my favourite actor no doubt).I became more brave than i was.I realised that if you have a dream, a wish, you must do anything possible to make it come true.My advise:Watch this film twice or more to understand it.Axel is a very special young man with a special kind of vision above life, death and love.He is weird some way, he thinks that love will come true no matter what.Immature teenager you can say.But his love for Eleine is too strong.He said that if she wanted o spaceship to go in another galaxy he would be the one to build it.Axel(Johnny Depp) has a dream.His own storry about a fish..
In reality Lewis wants Depp to work for him as a Cadillac dealer along with Vincent Gallo who is also like a surrogate son.Pretty soon Depp is also involved with a mother/daughter pair of quirky sexual piranhas in Faye Dunaway and Lili Taylor.
I'll admit the last half hour of the movie kind of falls apart, there are a few plot points that seem murky (like how the relationship between Depp and Faye Dunaway evolves), and the movie is definitely not a mass audience film.
The film starts with beautiful dream sequence that is discussed by the characters many times throughout the movie, also the elements from the dream that seem to be escaped into 'real' world carry much significance, but never feel distracting or out of place.
The surrealistic cinematic landscape is covered with fantastic music by Goran Bregovich, and of course superb performances by Johnny Depp and Faye Dunaway supported by wonderful cast of Jerry Lewis, Lili Taylor and Vincent Gallo.'Arizona Dream' might not be for everyone's taste, but it is one of the strangest great films of all times..
And I've got to speak for myself, the film is so hypnotic and enchanting that I can't imagine how it can ever be criticized, so this is a positive review, yes, because Hollywood is so dry on experiences like "Arizona Dream" that such movies deserve admiration.What's the story about?
It's a tale about fishes, or one fish actually, a fish and a young man named Axel (Johnny Depp) who has strange dreams involving Eskimos and again, fishes ...
Axel's uncle (Jerry Lewis) feels guilty for the loss of his nephew's parents and want him to work for him in his Cadillac-selling business, Elaine (Faye Dunaway) is a woman who dreams of flying, Paul (Vincent Gallo) wants to be an actor, Elaine's daughter Grace (Lily Taylor) a turtle.
Like a Kusturica movie, this film has a lot of music going on, a lot of accordion, a lot of dancing and loving, of passion and pathos, even jealousy and envy are powerfully conveyed by the performance of the two peripheral characters played by Taylor and Gallo, while Depp and Dunaway can abandon themselves in an ocean of lust and fully enjoy their romance until they learn to deal with the consequences.
How weird that you could feel the word "deep" in Depp and Faye Dunaway almost rhymes with "fly" and "runaway".And as a leitmotif, we have this flying fish caught earlier by an Eskimo who belongs to either a dream or a reality, to say that it makes the connection between the opening scene and the rest of the film or the rest of the film with the ending scene is beside the point, if there's any, yet, there's a feeling of completeness, the idea that sometimes, we all have a vision of what we should do and what shall become of us.
Kusturica is aware than he's privileged for making such movies, which would be impossible today.But he had this luck to come at Hollywood at the right time, the right moment, to have Johnny Depp before he became a supreme movie star, Faye Dunaway who was always "in" for ambitious projects ("Mommie Dearest" was a blessing in disguise as it allowed her to work in weird but fascinating movies like this or "Barfly") and Lewis, Gallo, Taylor complete the gallery of eccentric but appealing protagonists, I mentioned Fellini but there's something weirdly Hustonian in that bunch of dreaming misfits.And something unique about Kusturica, as usual....
Terrific cast (Johnny Depp,Faye Dunaway,Lili Taylor,Vincent Gallo and Jerry Lewis.) Beautiful cinematography.
Emir Kusturica and his unique style strike again with this amazing story of a young man (Johnny Depp) "kidnapped" from NY by his cousin (Vincent Gallo) and taken to Arizona to be the best man at his uncle's wedding.
Although the cast is desirable (Johnny Depp, Jerry Lewis, Faye Dunaway), the story is much too bizarre to follow.
Looking at the container, you may get a little befuddled by the cast - or just as easily take interest in it: Johnny Depp, Jerry Lewis, Faye Dunaway, Lili Taylor and Michael J.
Quirky does not necessarily mean good...A man, Axel (played by Johnny Depp), is driven from New York to Arizona by a friend to attend the wedding of his uncle (played by Jerry Lewis).
In actual fact, it is just plain annoying.Has a few good moments, but these are very few and far between.Good cast - Johnny Depp, Faye Dunaway, Jerry Lewis, Lili Taylor, Vincent Gallo - but wasted on a pointless script and "look at how arty I can be" direction.Pretentious nonsense..
Lili Taylor is one of my favourite actresses, so this film sounded like a dream come true, her and Depp in a movie, together, but it wasn't.
Yes, this movie helped for Johnny Depp, helped to grow up like an actor, helped for his career path, but only he can say why and how, because I can't understand.
Life can be hard work, especially when you try to make a living counting fish, like Johnny Depp's character Axel, or selling cars, like Leo Sweetie (Jerry Lewis) and Paul Leger (Vincent Gallo), or trying to fly, like Elaine Stalker (Faye Dunaway).
"Arizona Dream" is the first, and so far only, English-language, shot-in-America film of Emir Kusturica.
There was too much whining constantly in each characters and like we are seeing A - List celebrities Jerry Lewis, Faye Dunaway and Johnny Depp being involved in this!
I am really disappointed with this movie because I was so looking forward to seeing Jerry Lewis and Johnny Depp teaming up. |
tt0038766 | Mysterious Intruder | Edward Stillwell, the aged proprietor of a music store, hires private detective Don Gale (Dix) to find Elora Lund, a then 14-year-old who vanished seven years ago at the time her mother died. Stillwell can only pay $100, but hints mysteriously that finding Lund could make Gale a rich man.
A young woman claiming to be Elora Lund shows up at Stillwell's shop, supposedly in answer to his newspaper advertisement. Stillwell tells her that her mother gave him some "odds and ends" to sell; he discovered something very valuable among them, but refuses to give her any details until he telephones Gale. Meanwhile, Harry Pontos sneaks into the basement and finds a package marked as belonging to Lund. He grabs it, then stabs Stillwell to death and kidnaps "Elora Lund". Gale informs the reporters at the murder scene that the woman is not Lund. The news results in her release unharmed.
Gale goes to see her; her real name is Freda Hanson, and she is Gale's accomplice. From clues that Hanson is able to provide, Gale retraces her steps and finds the house occupied by Pontos. Finding Pontos drunk and passed out, he looks around, but just then, Police Detectives Taggart and Burns bang on the door. Pontos awakens, grabs a gun and a shootout ensues. Gale sneaks away, but is seen by a neighbor and loses a shoe in the process.
Taggart and Burns question Gale, inform him that Pontos is dead and return his shoe. When he refuses to cooperate, they arrest him, but release him a little later (hoping he will lead them somewhere). He goes to see Hanson and finally gets her to admit that what she is after is worth $200,000. When there is a knock on the door, he hides and finds a newspaper clipping indicating that a magnate has offered $100,000 each for two wax cylinder recordings legendary Swedish singer Jenny Lind made shortly before her death.
Meanwhile, the real Elora Lund goes to the police. Taggert and Burns send her to see Gale to try to find out what he knows. She remembers the recordings; Gale offers to secure them for 25% of their value. He persuades her to stay with his associate Rose Deming while he does so.
James Summers, the manager of the apartment building in which Hanson lives, finds her strangled body in her closet. The police figure Gale is guilty, as he was seen leaving her apartment around the time of the murder. Joan Hill, Gale's secretary, warns him he is a wanted man.
He heads to Stillwell's place, finding his neighbor and friend, Mr. Brown, dead too. Down in the basement, he sees Summers and an accomplice. They have found the recordings. Summers offers to cut Gale in, but Gale does not like what happened to Summers' other partners: Hanson and Pontos. A gunfight breaks out. Gale shoots Summers, grabs the recordings and flees. He telephones police headquarters and announces he has the recordings. When he hears someone coming after him, he fires. He is shot and killed ... by the police. Taggart notes that one of the shots has shattered the recordings. | violence, murder | train | wikipedia | The fifth of the seven Richard Dix Whistler's is a complicated hard boiled affair, coming in at just under an hour with the usual high quota of dizzying plot twists to keep you on your toes.
Nicely noirish and a good print lend a doom-laden atmosphere which the excellent cast make the most of, and at warp speed.Seedy private eye Dix is hired by a trusting old shop owner to find his friend a missing girl who has an intriguing if extremely improbable present worth USD 200,000 awaiting her.
Favourite bits: Dix and his lady
friend tracking down and finding manic Mike Mazurki's house at night; the greed in weak-willed but still a goodie Dix's eyes when the real Elora Lund shows up.
Here's another fine entry in Columbia's noirish Whistler series, the fifth chronologically, and fourth directed by soon-to-be schlockmeister William Castle.
Like the first in the series, Castle imbues the film with an especially sleazy atmosphere.
Series lead actor Richard Dix, normally emotively challenged, gives a rather eccentric interpretation of a venal, socially inept gumshoe seeking a big score, who is ironically given the opportunity for redemption.
Buffs will certainly savor the parade of iconic supporting actors like Mike Mazurki and Charles Lane.
Much better than one would expect from a mystery series, this picture reflects the seamy side of life usually glossed over by the Hollywood veneer..
He's a distinctive creation of writer Eric Taylor's clever little screenplay, with more twists and turns than one of those old Toni home permanents.
Richard Dix is perfect as Gale with all the phony charm and shifty eyes of an oily medicine man.
If Gale has any redeeming qualities like Spade or Marlowe, I can't find them, making him one of the most unusual lead characters of the day.The movie starts off posing a neat little mystery-- why would anyone want to kill for some worthless old keepsakes.
The solution is a novel one, although the story sometimes unfolds in a complex fashion that's hard to follow.There're some nifty little touches, such as the trigger-happy neighbor who apparently shoots at anything that moves or the safe-house matron who looks like she could go a few rounds with Mike Tyson.
Little old man Stillwell should carry a sugar-overload warning, while plug-ugly Mike Mazurki mugs it up shamelessly as the towering menace.
The bare-bones street scenes might blemish most movies, but here they come across as just plain cheap like Gale himself.How surprising that the schlockmeister of 1950's gimmick movies, William Castle, stands as the moving force behind many of these little Whistler gems.
William Castle the director of many low B budget films made this into another great Whistler series starring Richard Dix as Don Gale, a rather shady private detective who had a nice brunette secretary named Joan Hill, (Nina Vale) who assisted him with all his clients and especially a little old man.
This little old man wanted to locate a young girl named Lund in order to tell her that she was worth lots of money and he wanted Don Gale to try and local this young girl from his past.
Enjoy, it is a good mystery, and Richard Dix had a certain charm that made his acting so suspenseful..
Tight little mystery in "The Whistler" series directed by William Castle....
The improbable plot for this entry in "The Whistler" series has something to do with valuable cylindrical disc recordings of Swedish nightingale Jenny Lind, a double-crossed antique dealer, a femme fatale blonde who knows the recordings are worth $200,000, and some crooked thieves.
RICHARD DIX is the gumshoe detective in the mold of Philip Marlowe, but his dialog isn't quite as sharp.Dix, of course, has to play fast and loose with the police on his trail and there are enough plot twists to keep any mystery fan mystified.
As you can see, for a film that only runs one hour there's enough to keep you busy watching for the next development.The supporting cast includes BARTON MacLANE, PAMELA BLAKE, CHARLES LANE, REGIS TOOMEY and MIKE MAZURKI.Crisply written and directed, it's a good series entry..
Richard Dix , Private Eye. A MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER kills Richard Dix's kindly client before Dix can find out why he wants to spend his meager earnings to find a girl the client adopted long ago.
Will Dix double cross his way into the big money before psycho-baddie Mike Mazurski kills him, or tough cop Barton McLane puts him away?
The full-blown crisis of conscience Dix endures through this movie anchors the fast-moving (and often incoherent) plot in something a little more substantial than is found in the usual private eye caper.
The ending to this one is a very good double twist, one of which is a little surprising.
The other actors play the usual set of tough cops, psychos, loyal secretaries and money grubbing blonds in the ways you might expect.In other words -- find this one if you like noir..
The Whistler was both a radio show and a B-movie series from Columbia Pictures.
Unlike the usual B-films (which were mostly detective films), this series was more like episodes of the "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" television series--each a unique story involving human nature and each one being unique and unrelated to the others.
Additionally, all but the final film starred Richard Dix--who played very different characters in all the films.In this film, Dix plays a private detective who isn't especially honest.
When a kindly old man comes to him for help, Dix appears willing to use a bit of larceny to cash in on the man's trust.
Throughout the film, you see that above all else, Dix is a man out for himself.
Additionally, other selfish characters abound--and soon practically everyone wants to cash in on the old man's secret.This film is probably the best in the series because the script is much tighter and without the plot holes that sometimes impeded the series.
Additionally, the supporting staff is much better than usual--having many great character actors on hand, such as Mike Muzurki, Barton MacLane and Charles Lane.The score of 8 is relative to other B-movies.
For the genre, it's among the best and not to be missed by old film buffs..
Mysterious Intruder (1946) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Fifth film in Columbia's The Whistler series has Richard Dix playing a private investigator who gets a case from an old man who is looking for his niece.
This is a pretty good entry in the series, although the screenplay falls short when compared to the previous film.
The film only ran 61-minutes so perhaps that's why the story didn't have time to work itself out as well as it should have.
Dix once again turns in a good performance with Charles Lane, Barton MacLane and Nina Vale offering fine support.
So the basic premise of "Mysterious Intruder" is feasible and broadly based on historical fact: the existence of such cylinders.Richard Dix does a good job in "Mysterious Intruder" as a sleazy private eye out to grab some lost cylinders of a famous singer from the 1880's.
It moves briskly and is filmed with stark noir-style lighting.Another thing I find interesting about this movie is its use of some talented and now totally obscure actresses, namely Nina Vale, Helen Mowery and Pamela Blake (no, not Amanda Blake).
The very solid actor Barton MacLane (Maltese Falcon '41) also is a great asset portraying a police detective.This movie has a unique story and is one of Dix's better performances (not great acting, but good for Dix) and is directed by William Castle.
Up to this point, I found the entries in "The Whistler" series to be enjoyable B movies, but with "Mysterious Intruder", something seems to have gone wrong.
And this particular detective story really requires you to pay close attention - if you are not keeping careful mental notes to what's going on, you'll likely get lost pretty quickly.
A nice old gentleman hires private detective Don Gale (Richard Dix) to find a girl named Elora Lund he hasn't seen in seven years.
Gale tries to rip the old man off by sending an impostor to pose as Elora.
But then the old man is murdered (in a surprisingly brutal scene) and Gale finds himself on the spot.Another entertaining entry in Columbia's always-fun Whistler franchise.
Good supporting cast includes Barton MacLane, Mike Mazurki, Regis Toomey, and Charles Lane.
It's a pretty good story, especially for a B movie.
Burns, show up at what you would expect to be, from watching Sam Spade & Philip Marlow like 1940's private eye flicks, his rundown and barley lit office in what looks like swanky Sutton Place, check out the 59th Street Bridge outside the office window, private investigator Don Gale, Richard Dix, is anything but interested in taking up his case.
Stillwell is willing to pay Gale all his life saving, $100.00, to track down and find 21 year-old Elora Lund, Pamela Blake, whom he hasn't seen or heard from for almost seven years.
Lund is to inherit a large amount of money that her widowed mother, who had just passed away, left with him that Gale suddenly got interested in the case knowing that he'll, if he finds Miss.
Lund, get a piece of it.The movie "Mysterious Intruder" is a lot like the "Maltese Falcon" with an unscrupulous private eye, like Sam Spade in the latter, breaking every rule in the book trying to get his hands on, instead of the legendary "Black Bird", a set of 1887 wax recordings cylinders of Swedish Nightingale Jenny Lind worth over $200,000.00.
Gale is in fact a lot more unscrupulous then Sam Spade ever was by using people to trick poor old Mr. Stillwell into getting hold of the wax recordings without even giving them to their rightful owner Elora Lund!Gale using one, of many, of his lady friends hot blond Freda Hanson, Helen Mowery, to impersonate Miss.
Lund to get a hold of the wax treasures has old man Stillwell murdered by the gorilla-like Harry Pontos (Mike Mazurki), who somehow got wind of what was going on, who ends up taking Freda hostage together with a package in Stillwell's store addressed to Elora Lund.
When Gale get's to Stillwell's store finding him murdered and Freda missing has the news get out, via the police, that she's not really Miss.
Pontos hearing this on his car radio, together with him finding nothing of value in the package that he stole from Stillwell's music store, lets Freda go as he heads home to his rooming house for a good nights sleep; it turned out to be the last good nights,or days, sleep that the big lug would ever have.Gale gets it from both sides in the movie, the police and those who work for him, with him getting the royal screwing from non other then Freda herself who's ***SPOILER ALERT*** working behind his back to get the wax cylinders off his hands and keep the $200,00.00 for both herself and her secret crime partner.
With him wanted by the police in Freda's, and possibly Mr. Stillwell's, murder Gale goes incognito, as a mummy-like looking bandaged crippled man, to the late Mr. Stillwell's music store knowing that the real killer, or killers, of Freda are there rummaging through the place trying to find the valuable wax recordings.The ending by far is the best part of the film "Mysterous Intruder" with everyone getting exactly what's coming to them including the on the lamb and under the covers, or bandages, Don Gale.
One of the best of the Richard Dix "The Whistler" series of films and at the same time one of most complicated.
Still "Mysterious Intruder" is more then worth watching a second time just to see the clues and subplots that you may have missed the first time around..
The screenplay of MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER is by Eric Taylor, based on his own story "Murder to Music," which appeared in the May 1936 BLACK MASK magazine.
Taylor was not one of the first tier BLACK MASK writers, and his work for the magazine varies in quality, but this was a good one, one of his best.
In the story one knows from the beginning that the first girl is the detective's stooge.
Actually showing the scene where she meets the old man means that, to fool the audience, she has to be afraid of Pontos (the only character name retained from the story), which makes no sense, since in fact he's her accomplice.
A strong moment of surprise in the story is when the detective suddenly accuses the fake girl of trying to get him killed.
In the film it seems like just another meaningless plot twist.
In the story, he has his secretary call in and say she's the real girl so that the phony will be released.
In the movie, he himself tells the newspapermen, so of course the cops know he sent the phony.
The denouement of the story is a great scene where the detective seems to be in a bad spot, with the bad guys having their guns on him, but he calmly points out that they have limited options unless they want to kill off "half of San Francisco." And a significant point in the story is that they're not really professional tough-guy crooks except for their hired man Pontos, so the detective's sudden action play after he has them unnerved makes sense.
The stooge girl isn't killed, and there's no final scene back in shop, and of course the detective is not killed and the rightful owner, the authentic girl, gets the recordings.
Having the recordings broken seems a little hard on the character of the innocent young girl who deserves a break.
There are other plot flaws in the end of the film.
It ends with the ironic note of the cops thinking the detective was guilty.
Also, at the beginning of the film Pontos apparently takes the recordings with him, yet at the end they are found in the store.
Aside from being more logical, the original story has a more authentic atmosphere, and Taylor adds a number of telling, small details not in the film.One doesn't necessarily expect a strong plot from a series film like this, but in this case the author based the screenplay on his own tightly plotted, excellent story.
But instead of following the story, he restructured it so there are plot flaws and loose ends.
Ah, well.The best thing about the film, and the biggest surprise, is that Richard Dix is perfect as the sleazy, not-so-smart, PI; who would have thought it?
And Castle doesn't do such a bad job with the script that he's given; the film is reasonably atmospheric and the pace is good.
If you like series programmers this film should satisfy..
Another strong entry in the Whistler series with Dix as yet another dark character, this time an unscrupulous private eye who is hired by a music store owner to try to find Alora Lund (Nina Vale) a young girl who grew up next door.
Poor old Richard Dix, after a career of dashing heroes, must have wondered what happened when he found himself appearing in one oddball part after another!!
He was very good and gave the parts a lot of gusto!!Don Gale (Dix) is all for fobbing Stillwell off until the elderly man states that if found Alora holds the key to untold wealth.
- that night a girl purporting to be Alora Lund visits Stillwell but she is an imposter, sent by Gale to try to find out about the real girl's inheritance.
The night ends with a murder and a kidnapping.Meanwhile the real Alora is recuperating in hospital due to an accident and the police (Charles Lane and the gruffly likable Barton MacLane) contact her, hoping she can fit some of the pieces together.
Dale takes Alora to be "looked after" by a feisty old lady, he then goes to have it out with his partner Freda who informs him she is just about to double cross him with Stillwell's killer, then she is murdered.
Hovering over the whole show is Freda's creepy building janitor Mr. Summers (Regis Toomey).An involved plot and good performances make this an excellent entry..
Some great character actors liven up this convoluted entry in a series that started off intelligent and clever, and over the time has gotten full of itself to where much of the proceedings are incomprehensible.
Murders surrounding a rare record shop and missing persons result in a lot of headaches in trying to keep up with what is going on.
In this entry, Richard Dix is a cynical private investigator, often at odds with detectives Barton MacLane and Charles Lane, out to solve the sudden death of an elderly music store owner, the disappearance of the girl he was searching for, and the odd assortment of characters coming in and out searching for valuable musical artifacts.
In addition to MacLane and Lane are Kathleen Howard, Regis Toomey and Mike Mazurki, but the intrusion of too many characters leads to a seeming dead end in the plot.
Even at just over an hour, this gets puzzling and ultimately frustrating, especially after watching two previous entries in "The Whistler" series that showed its smarts.
This lacks the artistic genius of the cult director William Castle who moved from series writer to behind the camera..
Unquestionably the weakest of the first five "Whistler" films.
The first four "Whistler" films may have been low-budget, but they were neither cheap nor dull; "Mysterious Intruder" is both.
It plays more like a run-of-the-mill private-eye film, and the revelation of the killer(s) is pretty ho-hum as well.
It doesn't really feel like a part of the series, apart from the ironic ending, which at least remains intact.
The film is not without interest - however all its predecessors in the "Whistler" series are significantly better. |
tt0020269 | Piccadilly | Valentine Wilmot's London nightclub and restaurant, Piccadilly Circus, is a great success due to his star attraction, dancing partners Mabel (Gilda Gray) and Vic (Cyril Ritchard). One night, a dissatisfied diner (Charles Laughton) disrupts Mabel's solo with his loud complaint about a dirty plate. When Wilmot investigates, he finds Shosho (Anna May Wong) distracting the other dishwashers with her dancing. He fires her on the spot.
After the performance, Vic tries to persuade Mabel to become his partner offstage as well as on, and to go to Hollywood with him. She coldly rebuffs him, as she is romantically involved with Wilmot. That night, Wilmot summons Vic to his office. Before Wilmot can fire him, Vic quits.
That turns out to be disastrous for the nightclub. The customers had come to see Vic, not Mabel. Business drops off dramatically. In desperation, Wilmot hires Shosho to perform a Chinese dance. She insists that her boyfriend Jim play the accompanying music. Shosho is an instant sensation, earning a standing ovation after her first performance.
Both Mabel and Jim become jealous of the evident attraction between Shosho and Wilmot. Mabel breaks off her relationship with Wilmot.
One night, Shosho invites Wilmot to be the first to see her new rooms. Mabel has followed the couple and waits outside. After Wilmot leaves, she persuades Jim to let her in. She pleads with her romantic rival to give Wilmot up, saying he is too old for her, but Shosho replies that it is Mabel who is too old, and that she will keep him. When Mabel reaches into her purse for a handkerchief, Shosho sees a pistol inside and grabs a dagger used as a wall decoration. Frightened, Mabel picks up the gun, then faints.
The next day, the newspapers report that Shosho has been murdered. Wilmot is charged with the crime. During the ensuing trial, he admits that the pistol is his, but refuses to divulge what happened that night. Jim testifies that Wilmot was Shosho's only visitor. Things look bad. Then Mabel insists on telling her story. However, she can recall nothing after fainting until she found herself running in the streets. Realizing that either Mabel or Jim must be lying, the judge summons Jim. By then, however, Jim has shot himself at Shosho's mausoleum. As he lies dying, he confesses he killed Shosho. | romantic, murder | train | wikipedia | Tracking through a bustling nightclub kitchen, back into the scullery, amidst steaming washtubs, the camera finds a woman in torn stockings dancing a slow shimmy on a tabletop: a slow upward pan reveals the alluring Anna May Wong in a Pabstian moment of erotic revelation.
In the course of this drama, director E.A. DuPont devises several more such clock-stopping moments as the star poses behind an etched glass screen or stretches her body in a geometrically beaded gown.When Wong makes her debut before the nightclub audience-- sporting an ersatz Thai get-up and fluttering her fingers this way and that---it is clear that she really can't dance at all, ironically making DuPont's contribution seem even more impressive .
[Famed as the actual creator of the shimmy, Gray demonstrates it here with lots of vigorous jiggling.]Paralleling her rise to dance stardom, Wong's wardrobe gets increasingly elegant, while the conflicts mount: quarreling over nightclub impresario Jameson Thomas [a nicely subtle performance], Gray argues "He's too old for you!" and Wong ripostes "You're too old for him." Both have a point.
Eventually, with the help of some Limehouse ruffians, a gun, and a dagger, it all ends in a courtoom.Apart from a brief appearance by Charles Laughton as a fastidious diner, DuPont pays no attention to the café society patrons of the Piccadilly Club.
But it is Anna May Wong's dazzling performance that stands out, even above everything else in the movie.Set in the "Piccadilly" night club, the story ostensibly stars Jameson Thomas as the club owner, and Gilda Gray as one of the club's star dancers.
The beginning of the film is tedious, choosing to dwell a bit long on setting the scene, but once the main characters are introduced and the story begins to unfold, it captures and holds your attention.
She treats him like a dog, but they obviously have a close bond and need each other.As a film in general, "Picadilly" is lacking on a few levels, but it is completely redeemed by Anna May Wong's presence.
This film shows what Wong was capable of, and the talent Hollywood wasted by not giving her starring roles.
Mabel gets jealous and leaves Piccadilly...but still wants Wilmot but he's falling for Shosho...This movie is a showcase for Anna May Wong.
She steels the scenes from the main actors (Jameson Thomas and Gilda Gray) and turns the film about a story about her character.But, and this is a big BUT.
PICCADILLY (1929), a fun-to-watch account of a sexual triangle which unfolds, to fatal effect, in a London nightclub - all pencil thin moustaches, louche owners and jazz dancing.
As directed by Dupont it is a film which showcases its lurid (if ultimately unconvincing) storyline very well and entertainingly enough, even if one can imagine a Von Sternberg version using the same elements, which included orientalism in the form of Anna May Wong as an exotic temptress, much more effectively.
In the few silent films I've seen, the acting has been very "stage acting" over the top and dramatic, so I was expecting to see more hams than I'd see in a butcher, but I got some really great performances, I was really impressed, especially by King Ho Chang who played Jim. Right, plot summary then, the film is about the Piccadilly Club losing it's main attraction, a dancer named Victor, and discovering his successor in the club's own scullery.
What then follows is a typical love triangle plot, between the new dancer, Shosho, the club owner, Valentine and Victor's old dance partner, Mabel.
Notice her controlled facial expressions and body movements....they are very low key in a time when acting was often over the top and bordering on "hammy".The story concerns the rise of Ms. Wong (Shosho) as a dancer and inamorata of nightclub owner, Valentin (Jameson Thomas)....much to the distress of Mabel (Gilda Gray) as the featured act at the Picadilly and also a lover of the owner.
In London, Mabel Greenfield (Gilda Gray) and her partner Victor Smiles (Cyrill Ritchard) are the lead attractions of the Piccadilly Club with their show of dance, bringing the high-society to watch them dancing and have dinner.
When a client irritated with a dirty plate disturbs the show, Valentine investigates the restaurant and the kitchen, and he finally ends in the scullery where he sees the Chinese dishwasher Shosho (Anna May Wong) dancing on a table and the other employees watching her instead of working.
However, Mabel alone is incapable to hold the clients and Valentine invites the exotic Shosho to dance in Piccadilly Club.
She is acclaimed by the audience and has favorable reviews and sooner she catches Valentine; the envious and jealous Mabel decides to pay a visit to Shosho to tell her that she is in love with Valentine, and a tragedy happens."Piccadilly" is a great silent romance, with a complex screenplay that discloses sexual tension among several characters ending in a tragedy.
One of the last British silent films casts Gilda Gray and Anna May Wong as rivals for Jameson Thomas owner of the fabled Piccadilly nightclub located, where else but on Piccadilly Circus in London.
Thomas as owner of the nightclub fires half of his club attraction of the dancing team of Mabel and Vic. Vic is played by Cyril Ritchard and he's got a roving eye which distresses Mabel who is Gilda Gray.
It distresses Thomas even more who likes Gilda, sort of.But when Gray as a solo act doesn't bring in the customers, Thomas looks for a replacement and finds it in the slinky, sexy, sultry Anna May Wong.
Wong had previously worked in the scullery at the club and got fired when she did a little impromptu dance entertainment for the staff and a customer complained about a dirty plate.
But Thomas and his hormones remembered Wong and they begin an association professional and later personal.This interracial triangle ends real bad with one of them dead and the other on trial for murder.Two prominent people who had great careers in film had small parts.
He's the diner who complains about the dirty plate he was given, spoiling Ritchard and Gray's dance and leading to Thomas's discovery of Wong.
No doubt this man was going to have a great career.There is one other prominent role of significance, that of King Hou Chang as Wong's original boy friend who carries a torch bigger than the one Jameson Thomas has.
The modern-sounding music score is distracting in most places, and some of the dialogue is horrendous.There's a very suspenseful, well-acted scene when Wilmot invites Anna May Wong's character, Shosho, up to his office to discuss having her dance at his club.
I thought the scene was worthy of Hitchcock, and follows his definition of true suspense: The audience knows something that a character doesn't.The finale, I felt, tries to go a long way out of its way to exonerate Mabel (a white woman) for the murder of Shosho (a Chinese woman) by making Jim (also Chinese) guilty so that the film could have a "happy white people ending." However, logic dictates that Mabel should be guilty of this crime of passion.
A fascinating story of the rise of a young Chinese woman from scullery maid to feature dancer at a posh London nightclub, "Piccadilly" is a good introduction to Ms. Wong's many charms for those who have not had the pleasure before, or for those many who enjoyed her work in 1932's "Shanghai Express" and have found it hard to see her elsewhere.
Devilishly debonair Valentine Wilmott (Jameson Thomas), a Ronald Colman type with pencil moustache and oil-slick hair, is the owner of Piccadilly, London's top nightspot, at which the glamorously-monickered dance team of Clive and Mabel (Cyrill Ritchard and the real-life queen of the shimmy, Gilda Gray) are the resident dance team.
Things turn sour for Mabel, however, after Clive dissolves the partnership in a huff after she rebuffs his advances once too often, and then Valentine starts getting cosy with his new female dancer, the sultry Sho-Sho (Anna May Wong).
While there are some nice touches in the script – Wilmott, for instance, after watching Clive and Mabel's unconvincing dance performance, travels from club to kitchen to scullery, where he spies Sho-Sho performing a sultry shimmy on a worktop for the entertainment of her workmates, thus linking most of the protganists and depictng their relative social status in one economical and effective sequence – once Bennett has to concentrate on driving the storyline forward, he seems too willing to fall back on increasingly melodramatic plot points that must have been clichéd even back in '29.Although third-billed, Anna May Wong is far and away the star of this movie.
Gilda Gray, the star of the piece – although Thomas gets more screen-time than both of the ladies – gives a melodramatic performance by comparison.
He sees Anna May Wong's character dancing in the night club scullery and fires her for it, but later he realizes that maybe an exotic act is what he needs to draw an audience.
He is captivated by both the girl and her act, and at this point the film takes a sharp turn and becomes a bit of a crime drama and mystery.Anna May Wong is probably the only performer most American audiences will recognize with one fleeting exception.
London "Piccadilly Club" proprietor Jameson Thomas (as Valentine Wilmot) is having an affair with the female half of his star dancing duo "Mabel and Vic", shimmying Gilda Gray (as Mabel "Mab" Greenfield).
But, Thomas has discovered a new dancer in his kitchen, sexy scullery maid Anna May Wong (as Shosho).
Eventually, passion leads to murder.Director E.A. Dupont and photographer Werner Brandes are superb, in their final collaboration; they give "Piccadilly" a great, artful style.
Small bits of business, like Mr. Ritchard slitting a deeper crease into his hat, suggest additional eroticism.Charles Laughton has a delicious cameo as a "Piccadilly Club" patron more interested in his food than the dancers.The film is not without its sour notes, however; for example, some characterizations/relationships are poorly defined; and, the ending could have been better.
The barrier that Shosho has to overcome is that of her working-class origin rather than her foreign face: given the plot as written, she could equally well be a little Cockney ballet dancer (like Jessie Matthews, busy starring at that time in "This Year of Grace") picked out of the gutter by a wealthy patron as a speciality act to put the established performers' noses out of joint.On reflection I think I'd revise my original vote downwards to 6/10; worth watching out of curiosity if it turns up, but not worth seeking out.
The scene in the West End bar where the white night club owner takes ShoSho is key to the whole film IMHO.
******** Anna May. The nominal star of "Piccadilly" is Gilda Gray, but the real star of the film is Anna May Wong.
To start with, it has a starring role for Anna May Wong and a supporting role for King Hou Chang that doesn't show them in horribly stereotypical ways, as many other films from this period do.
There is a scene in a blue collar pub where a white woman comes in off the street and begins dancing with a black man, and he's then kicked out, but here we feel compassion for him, and Dupont's hand in juxtaposing it with the racial dynamic of the main characters.The film plods along at times and you have to be patient with it.
Beautifully shot movie,especially the tinted scenes, which really captivated me.Most silent movies are grainy,this print is very crisp,clear and has been wonderfully restored.I loved the streams of gay guys in the club at the start,and the edge that the party crowd had even back then.Very hep.The style was way better than any 30's movies I have seen.Jameson Thomas was very hot in this,manly he oozed sex appeal in my opinion.Also Mabel,reminded me of a young Shirley Maclaine,only sexier.Anna May Wong was wonderful as usual,its just too bad,she wasn't treated as the American she was,instead of the stereotypical Chinese,just off the boat roles she usually got.I will see this again as it was one of the best silents I have ever seen..
"Piccadilly" features some Hitchcockian touches, and I was taken aback by the talent and allure of Anna May Wong as "Sho Sho"...Hollywood has always loved the curvaceous blonde, from Harlow to Monroe.
Yes, they were lovely creatures, but Ms. Wong, without the prejudice, without World War II (doesn't matter if she was Chinese, she was perceived only as an oriental 'dragon lady'), had the beauty and talent to have been recognized as a true 'star' of her time..
The film stars Anna May Wong as Shosho, who at first works as a dishwasher in the club.
Anna May Wong looks beautiful and sexy in the role, wearing a costume probably not unlike Josephine Baker's at the same time.
Piccadilly is embarrassingly awkward at times, although I enjoy the explanations for that on the DVD - it was a time when British film was struggling to remove itself from stuffy drawing room culture and find a place in the jazz age.Anna Mae Wong is the star of this shrilly-acted and dated film.
ANNA MAY WONG, JAMESON THOMAS and GILDA GRAY are at the center of a love triangle in PICCADILLY, a silent film that is much more modern in style than most films of the period.
After the credits it switches to sepia for much of the story involving a nightclub act by GILDA GRAY and CYRIL RITCHARD that is disbanded when manager JAMESON THOMAS discharges Ritchard who is becoming too attached to his dancing partner.
In the meantime, we catch the furtive glances of a Chinese man who assists Anna's act and seems intent on throwing dagger-like glances at the manager whom he knows is entering into a romantic relationship with her.The end result is a crime of passion that is handled with some subtlety by director Arnold Bennett.
"Just imagine the whole place being upset by one little Chinese girl in the scullery."Pretty easy to imagine, actually, the Chinese girl being Anna May Wong.But this would be a powerful, sad, beautiful film even without her.
This film is Anna May Wong's triumph, but it's worth looking at for the qualities and themes that interested Arnold Bennett.
I would not be surprised if the character of Shosho was not Chinese in the original script but was adapted to suit Anna May Wong.
Valentine too is shown as someone who has worked for his success- the first half hour of the film places him in the club he has "made"; he first encounters Shosho after a complaint from Charles Laughton as the customer from hell which he deals with ruthlessly by firing Shosho from the scullery.
The direction is well-done with skilled and delicate touches of characterisation and placing and the camera-work is good with virtuoso flourishes on the dance floor and the film ends with another touch of Bennett- sandwich-men carrying placards for a show called "Life Goes On" past a newspaper with details of Shosho's and Jim's deaths..
Too bad Anna had no idea how to dance and no one bothered to show her how!By the way, a there are a few things to look for are in the film.
SOME SPOILERS AHEAD Entertaining claptrap about the almost completely soulless denizens of a West End nitery, from the overdressed star attraction (Gilda Gray) to the calculating Oriental scullery maid (Anna May Wong) who replaces her onstage and backstage, winning the affections of the duplicitous owner-manager (Jameson Thomas) and living (and dying) to regret it.
A. Dupont, and exquisitely photographed by Werner Brandes, Piccadillly was British International Pictures "
most expensive and prestigious production at the time." Featured performers include Thomas Jameson as Valentine the amoral boss, Gilda Gray as his faded star, Cyril Ritchard as her fawning partner and Anna May Wong in a dazzling role as the drudge turned star who saves the Piccadilly Club.
I don't know who the clothing designer was but Anna May Wong looked simply fabulous as the sinuous Oriental dancer, Shosho.
Art direction by Alfred Junge has a very decadent 20s Art Nouveau look and the photography by Werner Brandes captures the high society of London's West End ("This Year of Grace" is playing) to the seedy cabaret life of "my Piccadilly" as Valentine says.
Even though it was filmed mostly at Elstree, it was a great success and for his next movie Dupont turned to an actual locale in London with Piccadilly.
The film was based on a novel by Arnold Bennett and the author also supplied his own scenario.Vic and Mabel (Cyril Richard and Gilda Gray), the top dance act, are the talk of the town - so say the patrons of the Piccadilly Club.
- as one diner says he started the club and he made it!!!An incident involving a dirty plate (Charles Laughton has a cameo as a disgruntled customer) leads Valentine to the scullery where he discovers Shosho (Wong).
She's a knockout as Shosho, a Chinese dishwasher in a posh London nightclub who gets a chance to show how she can dance, and then becomes a star.
Valentine Wilmot (Jameson Thomas) owns the Piccadilly Club, the poshest of the posh, where the sophisticates of London crème de la crème, dressed to the nines, come to dance and dine, and to watch Mabel & Vic, "London's Greatest Dance Attraction." Wilmot is a tough, smooth, perfectionist.
He discovered Mabel Greenfield (Gilda Gray) and made stars out of her and her dance partner, Vic Smiles (Cyril Ritchard).
By this time Vic has left, Shosho finds it no trouble at all to delightfully snare Wilmot (in probably the best scene in the movie) and Mabel is jealous.
110 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Nightclub owner (Jameson Thomas) splits up a successful dance duo (Gilda Gray and Cyril Ritchard) when he falls for the girl himself. |
tt0119428 | Judwaa | Jayantilal 'Ratan' (Deepak Shirke) is a dacoit. SP Malhotra (Dalip Tahil) arrests him. Ratan wounds himself and is taken to hospital for the cure, where Malhotra is waiting for his wife Geeta (Reema Lagoo) who is on labour and she gives birth to twins and the doctor says that both children have reflection mentality, that means "if it pains to one other also hurts" depending on distance. Ratan escapes and takes one of the twins with him, hurting Geeta. Malhotra goes behind him, but he could not find the child but shoots Ratan. The child was taken by a lady who works as a daily labour with her husband. They have a daughter and one day in an accident at construction place were killed. The two children become orphans and they grew up, but the brother Raja (Salman Khan) with his friend Rangeela another orphan (Shakti Kapoor) become thieves for earning. On the other hand, Geeta goes into coma and Malhotra takes her to America for the cure, where another twin Prem (also Salman Khan) is brought up. He returns India as a rock star to give performances here. He is received by Kader Khan (Malhotra friend) who wishes to give his daughter Mala (Karisma Kapoor) to him. But Mala is in love with Raja. In the airport, Prem sees Roopa (Rambha) daughter of Meet (Bindu) who is organising his public performances and falls in love with her. Tony (Jack Gaud) who is Meet's brother also wishes to marry Roopa. Meanwhile, at home Mala advances with him thinking he is Raja only. One day in a restaurant they see each other and find that they are identical which leads to hilarious misunderstandings.
Meanwhile, Raja's sister Krishna (Sheetal Joshi) sees local goon Ratanlal Tiger (Mukesh Rishi) son of Ratan killing an Inspector on the road and provides evidence in the court. Enraged Ratanlal Tiger teases her and Raja fights with him. So Ratanlal Tiger wants to take revenge against Raja, he sends his henchmen (Shashi Kiran) as the bride to Krishna, but Raja breaks up the plan and makes his sister marriage with another guy. The court decides death sentence to Ratanlal Tiger. Days pass Krishna becomes pregnant and she is admitted into the hospital for delivery. Raja asks Prem to stay at the hospital as he is going in search of money, Prem visits his father Malhotra. At the same time, Ratanlal Tiger escapes from jail come to the hospital to kidnap Krishna and recognises Malhotra that he who killed is father Ratan and also knows that Raja is his son. He blackmails Raja to get Malhotra to release Krishna. Raja who doesn't know that Malhotra is his father goes to his house where Geeta also comes out from the coma by Raja's touch and he comes to know the truth that they are his parents. Finally, Raja and Prem join together, protect their father and sister from Ratanlal Tiger and the story ends with the duo marrying their respective ladies. | murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0458242 | Laitakaupungin valot | Koistinen (Janne Hyytiäinen) is a lonely nightwatchman tasked with guarding a shopping mall. He attempts to socialize, but is treated coldly by his manager and subjected to mocking by his colleagues. While he is drinking alone in a bar, he catches the eye of some criminals headed by Lindholm (Ilkka Koivula) who learn of his occupation. Koistinen's only human contact is the grill vendor Aila (Maria Heiskanen) to whom he outlines his plans of starting his own company.
While at work, Koistinen notices a dog left outside a pub without water. While he is taking a break, Mirja (Maria Järvenhelmi) approaches him, saying he seems lonely. They agree to go on a date together. Returning from his break, Koistinen meets a young boy in front of the pub and asks if he knows the owners of the dog. Despite the boy's warning, Koistinen confronts the owners in the pub and is beaten off-camera.
Koistinen and Mirja go on a date. They talk little, and at a concert Koistinen watches as Mirja goes dancing on her own with other men. Despite this, they agree to meet again. Koistinen returns to Aila's grill and talks about his evening. Insulted, Aila asks him to leave and closes shop. Meanwhile, Mirja meets with Lindholm for her payment and ridicules Koistinen. Lindholm informs his contacts of an "open-door day."
Koistinen seeks a loan to start his own business, but is harshly refused at the bank due to his insufficient education and lack of guarantors. Later, Mirja unexpectedly joins Koistinen while he is taking his rounds. While Koistinen explains the mall's security system, Mirja memorizes the security code he uses. She gives the code to Lindholm, who tells her to start cooling the fake relationship off.
Mirja meets Koistinen at his place, but abruptly leaves when he attempts to put his arm around her. Koistinen begins to drink heavily, and ends up at Aila's grill. Aila walks him home and puts him to bed.
At work, one of Koistinen's colleagues mockingly asks about his successes with women. Koistinen grabs the man, but stops himself from striking him and goes to his rounds. Mirja meets him and asks him to come and talk. Koistinen signs off and leaves with Mirja in his car. Mirja drugs Koistinen and passes his keys to one of Lindholm's contacts. Using Koistinen's keys and security code, the thieves rob a jewellery store at the mall.
The police question Koistinen, but he claims to have been alone and drunk. He is released due to lack of proof, but is fired from his job. On Lindholm's insistence, Mirja meets with Koistinen at his apartment once again to plant evidence. Koistinen notices her hiding the evidence, but does not stop her and lets himself be arrested by the police. He is sentenced to two years in prison.
Koistinen initially remains lonely in prison, tearing up a letter Aila sends him. Just as Koistinen begins to have some contact to other inmates, he is released a year early on parole. He finds lodgings at a night shelter and gets a job as a restaurant's dishwasher. He runs into Aila, but soon excuses himself. However, Aila comes to see him at the night shelter and asks about his plans for the future. When Koistinen says he plans to open a garage once he's back on his feet, she congratulates him for not losing hope. They agree to see each other again.
Koistinen sees Mirja and Lindholm at the restaurant where he is working, but does not confront them. Lindholm calls up the head waitress and tells about Koistinen's criminal record, which results in him being fired immediately. Koistinen gets a knife from the night shelter and returns to the restaurant. As Lindholm and Mirja are leaving, he attacks Lindholm, but only manages to cut his hand while being disarmed and subdued by Lindholm's thugs. The thugs offer to kill Koistinen, but Lindholm refuses, saying he is a businessman and not a murderer. The young boy who warned Koistinen earlier sees the thugs take him away and finds Aila. They discover the badly beaten Koistinen in the harbour, along with the dog Koistinen attempted to help earlier. Aila offers to get help but Koistinen asks her to stay. When she asks him not to die, Koistinen replies "I won't die yet" and puts his hand on hers. | neo noir | train | wikipedia | This is the third film in Kaurismäki's "Helsinki Trilogy" (the others are Drifting Clouds (1996) and The Man Without a Past (2002)) While I haven't seen the first, this film shares many thematic and formal elements with the second film, and I enjoyed it just as much.Koistinen is a lonely security guard who is ignored by his co-workers; that is, when he's not being teased by them.
Whatever it is, from the first frame, you know the director loves this sad sack and wants us to love him too.The films of the Helsinki Trilogy all deal with people on the margins, and it's clear that Kaurismäki's sympathies lie with the common people and not with those whose success or power has dehumanized them.
He is an isolated security guard and his story is one of cruel deception and eventual, utter downfall.Though Koiskinen's slicked-back hairstyle wouldn't seem fashionable outside of a Forties gangster film, he's really not a bad-looking guy; he just isn't a leading man.
Aila (Maria Heiskanen), the woman who cares about Koiskinen, who runs a refreshment stand in a vacant lot, he has little use for.Kaurismäki's sequences of scenes are as bold and assured as they are ironic.
This film has the squirming life of a pool full of sharks devouring carp.Laitakaupungin Valot, called Les lumières du faubourg or "suburban lights" in its French release and Lights in the Dusk in Canada, is in fact a coolly ironic reference to Charlie Chaplin's City Lights.
It is a devastating finale to Kaurismäki's "Loser Trilogy," which began with Drifting Clouds and continued with A Man without a Past.
Lights in the Dusk is another in the series of movies about Finnish life that contain the same elements; deadpan dialog, subtle humor, stubborn protagonists, semi-happy endings.
However, it's an acquired taste, not for everyone.Our anti-hero is a security guard, caught up in a criminal plot, ultimately taken advantage of by a beautiful femme fatale but redeemed by the love of a good woman.
That sounds like a simple plot, but as seen in the movie it's anything but simple.I've seen references to a trilogy, mentioning this film along with Man Without A Past and Drifting Clouds.
Director Aki Kaurismaki may do well to bare this in mind before embarking on his next languid look at sad-faced Finns moving in somnambulistic circles through the streets of Helsinki.Perhaps considering JUHA and MAN WITHOUT A PAST too fast-paced, Kaurismaki slows down the action in LIGHTS IN THE DARK to a snail's pace.
Despite making me wonder if Kaurismaki is playing it safe by recycling the same ideas, his films are often like comfort food and it would take a lot to make me sick of macaroni and cheese.
Compared to normal Hollywood movies I still enjoy Kaurismäki's films, but this is definitely not one of his best ones.One of the biggest problems of this film is the director's attitude towards his main character.
That's not the problem, but Kaurismäki doesn't offer a minimum of possible explanations to Koistinen's behaviour.I don't expect a complete interpretation of his work by a director or by an author, but as a viewer of a film or as a reader of a book you need at least some information to start at.
Now, the ending chapter is out in the form of Laitakaupungin Valot, a story of loneliness, betrayal and sacrifice.I read the script of this film when it was going to production, and saw the result at the Finnish premiere last night.
The end result is shallow and unfinished, despite all its potential.The story is straightforward enough: a security man, lonely and bullied, meets a femme fatale, who sets him up for his gullibility and loyalty.
The course of the story is clear from the beginning to the inevitable end; indeed, Kaurismäki reveals the whole story in his synopsis of the film.The femme fatale, a central figure and most controversial character, remains shallow despite her potential.
None of them have any good qualities, there's nothing to grasp and like, or even understand.The third problem is the world Kaurismäki paints: his image of Finland, stylistic fifties, the one through which audiences abroad have learned to see us.
Never mind that you have no new ideas and that the most your film does is deliver the 'good old feeling' everyone expects.That's a fate Kaurismaki seems not to have been able to avoid with his Lights in the Dusk.
No real suspense, only mindless clichés about a totally hapless main character (no, this is not irony on the film's part, guys, this is just the 'good-old-Kaurismaki-feeling' we yearn for and it only seems to work because his other films were enjoyable on their own).
Kaurismaki's Lights in the Dusk (Laitakaupungin Valot)Viewed at the 2007 Nordic Film Festival in Rouen.
If "Là-bas", Chantal Ackerman's spare study of nothingness at the 2007 Nordic Film Festival in Rouen was "experimental" the word which applies to Aki Kaurismaki's "Lights in the Dusk" is "Minimalist" -- to the MAX!
~~ Kaurismaki has always been known for showing no more than what is absolutely necessary to make a story point in his spare but compassionate studies of Finnish losers in Helsinki, but in this film he distills it down to the very nittiest-of-gritty.
"Lights in the Dusk" (or Shadows in the Slums) tells the story of the misadventures of a handsome but totally alienated security guard (actor Janne Hyytiainen as '"Koistenin") and his ill-fated romance with the beautiful moll of a sinister local gangster.
This is the final installment of the directors Finland Trilogy focusing on low-class Finnish losers, the other two being "Drifting Clouds" 1996 and "The Man without a Past", 2002, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes.
"Laitakaupungin Valot" is the kind of picture where, if you blink, you've missed a whole important plot point, but it's also an exceptional treat for those who have followed Aki's career over the years -- like a special desert at the end of a long feast.
LAITAKAUPUNGIN VALOT by Aki Kaurismaki, "Lights in the Dusk", 2006.
Viewed at the 2007 Rouen Nordic Film Festival where, if Chantal Ackerman's spare study of nothingness was "experimental" the word which applies to Aki Kaurismaki's "Lights in the Dark" (Finnish title) (LAITAKAUPUNGIN VALOT) is "Minimalist" -- to the MAX!
Kaurismaki has always been known for showing no more than what is absolutely necessary to make a story point in his spare but compassionate studies of Finnish losers in Helsinki, but in this film he distills it down to the very nittiest-of-grit.
"Lights in the Dudk" (or Shadows in the Slums) tells the story of the misadventures of a handsome but feckless security guard and his ill-fated romance with the beautiful moll of a sinister local gangster.
This is the kind of picture where, if you blink, you've missed a whole important plot point, but it's also an exceptional treat for those who have followed Aki's career over the years -- like a special desert at the end of a long feast.
Released in 2006, Aki Kaurismäki's film LAITAKAUPUNGIN VALOT (released internationally as Lights in the Dusk), completes a loose trilogy of films that deal with underdogs, employ similar colour palettes and are set in a strange fantasy Finland where the social divisions and rock music of the 1950s have persisted into the present day.The film is concerned with the sufferings of Koistinen (Janne Hyytiäinen), a security guard who is not just neglected by his coworkers and society, but eventually set up by femme fatale Mirja (Maria Järvenhelmi) for a jewelry heist.
Prominent supporting roles are Lindholm (Ilkka Koivula), the mastermind of the criminal operation, and Aila (Maria Heiskanen), a hot dog vendor who seems to be Koistinen's only contact with the world, though "friend" would be too strong a word.The previous two entries in Kaurismäki's "Losers" trilogy -- DRIFTING CLOUDS and THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST, had their characters knocked about, but ultimately they pulled through and found happiness.
The cruelty directed at Koistinen is more brutal and the ending, while hinting at something positive, is ambiguous and painful to watch.Kaurismäki has really come to repeat himself, maintaining not just the same atmosphere from film to film, but even reusing stock scenes like a man being beaten and left for dead at the docks, prison labour and awkward dates.
I am not a fan of movies about people who live their lives in a pointless way, and when given the options to act sit like zombies and let the river of life float them downstream.
If the style was not done intentionally the director, Aki Kaurismaki, needs to be prevented from ever making another film in his life.
The director also seems to think that chain-smoking characters will somehow add some interest and style to his film.I waited patiently thinking that perhaps there was some twist coming (like the security guard had actually planned the whole thing).
"Laitakaupungin valot" is the last episode for the Aki Kaurismäki's Finland trilogy whose previous items were "Drifting Clouds" and "The Man Without a Past".The main character of the latest installment is a lonely and badly treated night guard Koistinen who in many ways is the male version of Iris from "The Match Factory Girl".
However, you can also certainly absorb yourself into the story of the male main character of "Laitakaupungin valot" and feel empathy for him.In this movie Kati Outinen does a flash-like cameo appearance as the clerk of a Cassa shop, and the performers of the bigger parts are quite well accustomed to the Kaurismäki's style of film-making.
Janne Hyytiäinen, who plays the main part, is also very believable in his role, although I do not consider him to be quite as magnificent "silent film actor" as Kati Outinen was in previous parts of the trilogy.The music of "Laitakaupungin valot" deserves a special mention, since with it the aesthetic style of Kaurismäki really flowers.
What comes to the other content, there is a plenty of Kaurismäki's trade-mark dry humor at the beginning of the movie, especially at the coffee shop scene, but when the film goes on its comedic currents almost totally vanish and the dramatic values take over.
After Drifting Clouds (1996) and the Oscar-nominated The Man Without a Past (2002), Aki Kaurismäki ends his "losers" trilogy with what appears to be his most cynical film to date.Lights in the Dusk (the Finnish title, Laitakaupungin valot, is inspired by Chaplin's City Lights) is a quite unusual Kaurismäki movie, mostly because of the absence of his regular acting ensemble (the exception being Kati Outinen in a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo, reminiscent of Shadows in Paradise).
Lights in the Dusk finished a trilogy started by Drifting Clouds (1996) and The Man without a Past (2002).
His films are about the inevitable marginality of these kind of people who have no job and no home.Basically, this is the story: A lonely watchman in Helsinki becomes acquainted with a woman who then turns out to be a real femme fatale who works for a small Russian crime organization.
After a desperate attempt to revenge, he gets beaten up and ends up lying on the ground at the dock.Aki Kaurismäki is a true minimalist and one can clearly see the influence of Robert Bresson and Jean-Luc Godard in his work.
About the Finnish agony, and he often focuses his expressionistic eye on one character who in Lights in the Dusk happens to be Koistinen, played by Janne Hyytiäinen.
The title of the film comes from the classic City Lights and just as Chaplin's tramp so does the protagonist of Lights in the Dusk try to find a crack in the world from which he could crawl in.
For the first time the man reacts with something else than silence and, therefore, his shell starts to collapse.Lights in the Dusk isn't a pessimistic film.
Here is a quick review.Lights in the Dusk is the third film in a trilogy directed by Aki Kaurismäki.
A few weeks ago I rented the second film in this trilogy, The Man Without A Pasta charming film about an outcast that deals with loneliness, love and his place in the world.Lights in the Dusk also focuses on an outcasta lonely security guard who works nights in Helsinki.
Clocking in at a pithy one-hour-and-fourteen minutes, "Lights in the Dusk" is an existentialist Finnish comedy in which a mild-mannered night watchman, who seems to be living in a world of his own, becomes an unwitting patsy in a jewelry-store robbery when he opens up to a woman who has seemingly taken a romantic interest in him.As the much put-upon working man who allows a femme fatale to trick him into doing her dirty work for her, Janne Hyytiaien gives a marvelously deadpanned performance that perfectly reflects the spare, archly humorous world director Aki Kaurismaki has created for the film.
In a way, he reminds us a bit of Meursault from Camus' "The Stranger," a man so emotionally detached from the world around him that his actions aren't always explicable to those of us who are residing in the "real world" watching him perform them.Though it is a difficult film to pigeonhole, "Lights in the Dusk" is a modest, unassuming work that touches both the heart and the funny bone in roughly equal measure..
'Lights in the Dusk' is a wonderful film from many aspects, and yet the lack of ambition of his principal hero seems to somehow overcome the whole atmosphere to an extent that it defies the logic, at least for the non-Finn viewer.
The black and cynical humor in his Leningrad Cowboys series seems to have been overtaken here by plain despair.The hero of the film Koistinen (we never know his first name) is the loneliest man on Earth.
Lights in the Dusk is an odd little animal, a film that gives you archetypes of a genre and delivers a story it insists you find interesting before branching off into something else and then ending in a manner that, at least I, found abrupt.
The title of the film is Laitakaupungin valot, Finnish for what I can only presume to be 'Lights in the Dusk'.
Given the final shot of the film, Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki seems to stay true to his word and the film's title but I felt short changed; as if there was something else that could've developed once the film had ended to do with a psychological study of absolute no hope, rather than giving us what we get (which is genre film-making) and then finishing on an ambiguous note to do with us asking 'what happens next'?
The next minute, he's showing her around where he works and this-is-this-and-that-is-that and the scene has finished.The hapless lead is Koistinen (Hyytiäinen), a security guard at a Helsinki jewellers doing the night rounds more often than not.
Ever think about when you last watched a really iffy heist film like '3000 Miles to Graceland' and you see any number of security guards or police officers getting shot or taking some other flack during the robbery?
Koistinen and Mirja are not two of the most charismatic lead characters in a film ever but their relationship is never even 'so' in the first place so whatever communication or fondness there is will always be a result of Mirja's larger goal which is related to her employers larger goal.To say whether the heist happens and what happens next feels like a crude spoiler.
This is a man's 'prior tragedy' event in any Hollywood film you like stretched to 80 odd minutes and for pulling that off you have to commend the director.
In a sense, anyone that watches this are playing a 'Koistinen' role themselves with the director as the seducer, leading you down a route of the noir and of the 'hesit' genre before branching off to look at the results of said event and then ending on a distorting note leaving you wanting more.
Janne Hyytiäinen and Maria Järvenhelmi do well as Koistinen and Mirja; their characters may have zero chemistry between them but somehow it suits the cold feel of the film.
While this film lacks exciting action, laughs and likable characters it is worth watching if only because it is so different from typical Hollywood fare; also at seventy eight minutes it doesn't waste much time if it turns out you don't like it..
Like Kaurismaki's two previous films, 'Drifting Clouds' and 'Man Without a Past', this conjures up a world of despair, but shot in the Formica tones of a Doris Day comedy, without the emollient presence of incidental music.
Plot: A lonely security guard is manipulated by a femme fatale working for a gang of jewel thievesThis is a film that is so bleak that it actually becomes very funny, in a slightly hysterical sort of way.
Much of the film is taken up with long silences (in which the characters smoke), songs being played in full, and lengthy shots (check out the one of a card game in the gangster's den, where the femme fatale vacuums the carpet).
The femme fatale had one of the worst complexions I've ever seen powdered over on a leading lady; a metaphor, perhaps, for her soul.Unfortunately, the story did not have the holding power of the earlier "The Man Without A Past," one of my all-time favorite movies.
Lights in the Dusk is not among Aki Kaurismaki's very best films, but is a good addition to his oeuvre.
The movie is about Koistinen, a thirty-something security guard who is portrayed as the definition of a loser.
The problem with the movie is that Kaurismaki's has become too mannerist a filmmaker: the film is full of his usual quirks; for example, Koistinen and the two women he is involved with never made eye contact, as the actors are told to made a blank stare when they talk to each other.
As usual in Kaurismaki's films, the music is great: the movie starts and ends with two tangos by the great Carlos Gardel: Volver and El Dia Que me Quieras. |
tt0439533 | Deddo ribusu | Retro and Pandy, two unlikely renegades, awaken naked on Earth with no recollection of their past, but with superior physical abilities. After embarking on a brief but devastating crime spree for food, clothing and transportation in downtown Tokyo, they are captured by authorities and sent to the infamous prison called Dead Leaves, on the half-destroyed Moon.
Once incarcerated, Retro and Pandy are subjected to the activities taking place inside the prison facility, such as forced labor, straitjackets and mandatory defecation. During one such time, he meets Chinko, an inmate with a drill for a penis. 666 and 777, the super-powered prison guards, demonstrate their power when 777 flicks an inmate in the face, killing him along with everybody else behind him.
Back in their cell, Retro and Pandy orchestrate a mass prison break and discover the secret work being carried out at the facility. Over the course of the film, it is discovered that Pandy and Retro were spies working at the facility and the crazed warden is trying to get revenge on Pandy by re-creating a deranged fairy tale she remembers from her childhood.
In the finale, Pandy has Retro's child, who comes out with twin machine guns and blows the warden away. A giant caterpillar (part of the demented fairy tale) begins consuming the station until the mutant baby sacrifices himself so that his two parents can live. The film ends with Pandy and Retro crashing in the middle of Earth's dystopian metropolis in their escape pod, crushing a previously-victimized bystander and presumably restarting the events from the beginning of the film. | cult, action, psychedelic, violence | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0064516 | Josefine - Das liebestolle Kätzchen | Set in the 1950s, the film begins in medias res near the end of the story, with a confrontation between two men: one of them, Clare Quilty, drunk and incoherent, plays Chopin's Polonaise in A major, Op. 40, No. 1 on the piano before being shot from behind a portrait painting of a young woman. The shooter is Humbert Humbert, a 40-something British professor of French literature.
The film then flashes back to events four years earlier. Humbert arrives in Ramsdale, New Hampshire, intending to spend the summer before his professorship begins at Beardsley College, Ohio. He searches for a room to rent, and Charlotte Haze, a cloying, sexually frustrated widow, invites him to stay at her house. He declines until seeing her daughter, Dolores, affectionately called "Lolita". Lolita is a soda-pop drinking, gum-snapping, overtly flirtatious teenager, with whom Humbert becomes infatuated.
To be close to Lolita, Humbert accepts Charlotte's offer and becomes a lodger in the Haze household. But Charlotte wants all of "Hum's" time for herself and soon announces she will be sending Lolita to an all-girl sleepaway camp for the summer. After the Hazes depart for camp, the maid gives Humbert a letter from Charlotte, confessing her love for him and demanding he vacate at once unless he feels the same way. The letter says that if Humbert is still in the house when she returns, Charlotte will know her love is requited, and he must marry her. Though he roars with laughter while reading the sadly heartfelt yet characteristically overblown letter, Humbert marries Charlotte.
Things turn sour for the couple in the absence of the nymphet: glum Humbert becomes more withdrawn, and brassy Charlotte more whiny. Charlotte discovers Humbert's diary entries detailing his passion for Lolita and characterizing her as "the Haze woman, the cow, the obnoxious mama, the brainless baba". She has an hysterical outburst, runs outside, and is hit by a car, dying on impact.
Humbert drives to Camp Climax to pick up Lolita, who doesn't yet know her mother is dead. They stay the night in a hotel that is handling an overflow influx of police officers attending a convention. One of the guests, a pushy, abrasive stranger, insinuates himself upon Humbert and keeps steering the conversation to his "beautiful little daughter," who is asleep upstairs. The stranger implies that he too is a policeman and repeats, too often, that he thinks Humbert is "normal." Humbert escapes the man's advances, and, the next morning, Humbert and Lolita enter into a sexual relationship. The two commence an odyssey across the United States, traveling from hotel to motel. In public, they act as father and daughter. After several days, Humbert tells Lolita that her mother is not sick in a hospital, as he had previously told her, but dead. Grief-stricken, she stays with Humbert.
In the fall, Humbert reports to his position at Beardsley College, and enrolls Lolita in high school there. Before long, people begin to wonder about the relationship between father and his over-protected daughter. Humbert worries about her involvement with the school play and with male classmates. One night he returns home to find Dr. Zempf, a pushy, abrasive stranger, sitting in his darkened living room. Zempf, speaking with a thick German accent, claims to be from Lolita's school and wants to discuss her knowledge of "the facts of life." He convinces Humbert to allow Lolita to participate in the school play, for which she had been selected to play the leading role.
While attending a performance of the play, Humbert learns that Lolita has been lying about how she was spending her Saturday afternoons when she claimed to be at piano practice. They get into a row and Humbert decides to leave Beardsley College and take Lolita on the road again. Lolita objects at first but then suddenly changes her mind and seems very enthusiastic. Once on the road, Humbert soon realizes they are being followed by a mysterious car that never drops away but never quite catches up. When Lolita becomes sick, he takes her to the hospital. However, when he returns to pick her up, she is gone. The nurse there tells him she left with another man claiming to be her uncle and Humbert, devastated, is left without a single clue as to her disappearance or whereabouts.
Some years later, Humbert receives a letter from Mrs. Richard T. Schiller, Lolita's married name. She writes that she is now married to a man named Dick, and that she is pregnant and in desperate need of money. Humbert travels to their home and finds that she is now a roundly expectant woman in glasses leading a pleasant, humdrum life. Humbert demands that she tell him who kidnapped her three years earlier. She tells him it was Clare Quilty, the man that was following them, who is a famous playwright and with whom her mother had a fling in Ramsdale days. She states Quilty is also the one who disguised himself as Dr. Zempf, the pushy stranger who kept crossing their path. Lolita herself carried on an affair with him and left with him when he promised her glamour. However, he then demanded she join his depraved lifestyle, including acting in his "art" films, which she vehemently refused.
Humbert begs Lolita to leave her husband and come away with him, but she declines. Humbert gives Lolita $13,000, explaining it as her money from the sale of her mother's house, and leaves to shoot Quilty in his mansion, where the film began. The epilogue explains that Humbert died of coronary thrombosis awaiting trial for Quilty's murder. | psychedelic | train | wikipedia | Should a Schoolgirl Tell?. I watched the Should A Schoolgirl Tell? print of this film offered by Synergy via Amazon. Right up front, IMDb says 79 min for the German version. The DVD case states 77 min, which might be the accurate run time for the English dubbed version....but Synergy's print runs a scant 67 min. The print used is literally in tatters, and while some scenes run smoothly, others are riddled with spices rendering dialog incomprehensible in other places. The print also seems to have chunks missing ( part of the credits and the beginning of the film for example ) but at least it does not appear to be cut for censorship. How a print gets so incredibly incomplete is a mystery though. That said I got my $10 out of this DVD-R. This appears to be a unique digital transfer from a very worn 35mm print. I was hoping to see Barbara Capell in a lead role where she has lots of outfits and hopefully some nudity, and the film delivers this in spades. The plot of the film is rather silly ( if refreshingly non PC ), in fact the voice over narration states repeatedly that the events on screen are fantasy. The local gym teacher is doing the female students, and Capell's dad finds out and brings a lawsuit. Capell proceeds to bed the prosecutor and assorted others, mostly just go get some free new outfits ( she seems to care not about the fate of the teacher ). Barbara is very alluring in this film and I would like to find the German version someday ( or at least find a decent complete copy of the English dubbed version. |
tt0824758 | The Last Station | In 1910, the last year of Leo Tolstoy's life, his disciples, led by Vladimir Chertkov, manoeuvre against his wife, Sofya, for control over Tolstoy's works after his death. The main setting is the Tolstoy country estate of Yasnaya Polyana. Tolstoy and Sofya have had a long, passionate marriage, but his spiritual ideals and asceticism (he is opposed, for example, to private property) are at odds with her more aristocratic and conventionally religious views.
Contention focuses on a new will that the "Tolstoians" are attempting to persuade him to sign. It would place all of his copyrights into the public domain, supposedly leaving his family without adequate support. The maneuvering is seen through the eyes of Tolstoy's new secretary, Valentin Bulgakov, who finds himself mediating between the two sides. He also has a love affair with one of the Tolstoians, Masha.
Ultimately, Tolstoy signs the new will and travels to an undisclosed location where he can continue his work undisturbed. After his departure, Sofya unsuccessfully attempts suicide. During the journey, Tolstoy falls ill. The film ends with his death near the Astapovo train station where Sofya is allowed by their daughter to see him just moments before his death. The closing credits state that five years after his death the Russian senate reverted the copyrights of Tolstoy's work to Sofya. | romantic, avant garde, philosophical | train | wikipedia | This was an excellent historical film based on the relationship between Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer) and his wife, Sofya (Helen Mirren), during Tolstoy's final years.
The main tension comes between Vladimir, who wants Tolstoy to bequeath his copyrights to "The Russian People" and Sofya, who naturally would like the copyrights reserved for herself and family.Mirren earned an Oscar nomination for Lead Actress and Plummer received one for Supporting Actor.
Not by a long shot.The film follows the story of Leo (Christopher Plummer) and Sofya Tolstoy (Helen Mirren), married couple for 43 years, and the battle that raged between them at the end of Leo's life.
Despite its impressive cast and juicy subject, something about it just doesn't quite click.Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren play Leo Tolstoy and his wife in the days leading up to the writer's death, and the tumultuous relationship they shared, she feeling brushed aside by the author because of his commitment to his work and the Tolstoyan movement that developed around it.
James MacAvoy plays a young man who scores the job of being Tostoy's assistant and becomes witness to this domestic drama and an unwitting accomplice to the machinations of Tolstoy's close friend and business adviser (Paul Giamatti) to wrest copyright of Tolstoy's works away from his wife upon the writer's death.
But I simply didn't care as much about his character as I did Tolstoy and his wife, and I spent the whole film itching for the screenplay to give Plummer and Mirren, two great British actors, more to do.Paul Giamatti's character is oily and unlikable; indeed, there's something about Giamatti the actor that I find unlikable in general and actually makes it hard for me to watch him.
Towards the end of his life Tolstoy wants to give his money to the people which brings about a conflict with this wife who understandably wants some money for herself and the children.Of all the things to focus on, you basically have a movie about a great writer's fanaticism manipulated by the misguided Paul Giamatti into an ugly fight about money with his wife which hastens his death.
A young man,Valentin Bulgakov (played by James McAvoy)is hired by Vladimir Chertkov (played by Paul Giametti,adding a touch of class to his already impressive backlog of film work),who oversees the written work of Count Tolstoy,to spy on him at his commune/ashram in the Russian country side,in the guise of Tolstoy's personal secretary.
Bulgakov arrives to find a homestead overseen by the Tolstoy's,Leo (played to perfection by veteran,Christopher Plummer,who has come a long way since 'The Sound Of Music'),and his wife,Sofya (Helen Mirren-always welcome on screen).
"Your works are the birthright of the Russian people." Vladimir Chertkov (Paul Giamatti) in The Last StationLike Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Leo Tolstoy drifted at the end of his life into spiritualism but of a more naturalistic kind, which disavowed materialism, espoused celibacy, and talked about the simple power of love.
Michael Hoffman's The Last Station chronicles in historical drama fashion Tolstoy's (Christopher Plummer) struggle with his wife, Countess Sofya (Helen Mirren), over his desire to bequeath his works to the Russian people and thus, as she thought, deny her and her family rightful inheritance.The film has an operatic tone due in large part to Mirren's occasional histrionics as she argues with Tolstoy and faces off Chertkov, Tolstoy's close friend and a force for the Tolstoyan movement, which espoused the writer's philosophy of austere life, feeling at times like a stripped down transcendentalism popular in 19th century America.
The American director Michael Hoffman, in adapting Jay Prini's semi-factual novel about the last year in the life of the great 19th century Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, makes as his central character not the famous author but his wet behind the ears 23 year old secretary Valentin who is hired by Count Tolstoy's devout admirer Vladimir Chertkoff to both work for Tolstoy and spy on the countess, Sofya.
She is not sympathetic to her aging husband's anarcho-Christian leanings, nor to the movement based on his philosophy, and fears the family will be deprived of the benefit of Tolstoy's copyrights.Valentin, played fetchingly by James McAvoy, is a bewildered witness to the crisis in the stormy relationship between Tolstoy and his wife, which results in Tolstoy fleeing Sofya and his estate, only to die at a lonely railway station many miles away, with the world's media (such as it was in 1910) looking on.
It is the relationship between Leo (Lev) and Sofya that provides the real drama here, and the final scenes between them are genuinely moving.Helen Mirren as the histrionic Sofya is alone worth the price of admission and Christopher Plummer as Tolstoy is convincing, though he demonstrates a lot more personal warmth than the real Tolstoy apparently did.
"The Last Station" from 2009 looks at the last months of Leo Tolstoy's life.Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer) finds his relationship with his wife of nearly 40 years, Sofya (Helen Mirren) untenable.
Moreso than for him, his wife Sofya, the Countess (Helen Mirren), likes the possessions they have earned, and knows all about Tolstoy's real history, since they'd been together almost 50 years.Enter a few other characters like Valentin (James McAvoy) as his young, exuberant, celibate Secretary, Masha (Ann Marie Duff)a rebellious Tolstoyan living in the community, and mostly Cherkov (Paul Giamatti), kind of like Tolstoy's consigliere from the Godfather films, who is driving the expansion and business side of Tolstoy's movement.The major thrust of the story is the constant conflict between the triangle of Tolstoy vs Sofya his wife, who is fighting against Chertkov, who tries to get Valentin involved as his "spy" of the inner Tolstoy circle.
He basically let this talented group live the story, and guided it to a well-oiled finale.The one area that was so-so was the cinematography, which was nothing special because most of the scenes took place in two areas - the Tolstoy castle home and the village community, with some fleeting scenes in Moscow.Overall,the Last Station is a terrific movie, with an interesting story, and phenomenal performances by Mirren and Plummer.
A biography of Leo Tolstoy as he struggles to balance his fame with his beliefs.Starring Helen Mirren, James McAvoy, Christopher Plummer and Kerry Condon.Written by Michael Hoffman (Screenplay) and Jay Parini (Novel).Directed by Michael Hoffman.This is one of those that I didn't really fancy because on paper it doesn't sound too thrilling.But it's actually compelling stuff.
Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer and James McAvoy deliver stellar performances.I have never read anything by Leo Tolstoy so I wasn't sure whether this movie would resonate with me in any way, but it's actually one of the best I've seen in recent weeks.
It features the amiable talents of former Von Trapp patriarch Christopher Plummer and The Queen (2006) herself Dame Helen Mirren, in a true to life story about the last days of Leo Tolstoy.
The leader of a new quasi-religious movement, Tolstoy's most outspoken critic is not Tsar Nicholas but his wife Sofya (Helen Mirren) who is upset by plans to give away their fortune and the copyrights of his novels to "the people".As alluded to earlier, the plot is largely taken from the point of view of James McAvoy's character; a Tolstoy-ian with enormous respect for the aging author, scholar and theologian.
As Sofya's plight becomes more immediate, the film devolves into a movie about a woman fighting for her rights in a divorce before divorce was a thing.The Last Station was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Actress for Helen Mirren and Best Supporting Actor for Christopher Plummer.
Dealing with the demise of the epic writer Leo Tolstoy and his life with an incomparable wife, "Station" is fetching to see, beautifully written and directed, and in the hands of leads Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren, compelling.
Both sides despise each other, for understandable reasons and a devastating power struggle ensues between his loving, but somewhat status-obsessed wife Lady Sofya (Mirren) and the leader of the Tolstoyan movement, Chertkov (Giamatti) who despite having a truly villainous demeanour, seems only to have the best in mind for his idol, Tolstoy.The story itself, mediated by James McAvoy's Valentin Bulgakov, a young Tolstoyan who finds himself caught in the middle, is admirably believable.
The eponymous railway station in this case is Astapovo in southern Russia, a location of which the world would have remained blissfully unaware if it had not been the place of death of the acclaimed author Leo Tolstoy in 1910.This German-Russian film with mainly American and British actors was both written and directed by the American Michael Hoffman who took as his source material the 1990 novel of the same name by the American academic Jay Parini.
Christopher Plummer is the 82 year old Tolstoy, torn between family and acolytes, while Helen Mirren (herself part Russian) plays his long-suffering wife and mother of his 13 children - both excellent performances that received Academy Award nominations.
Both Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren were either awarded or nominated for awards on international film festivals for their roles of Leo Tolstoy and his wife Sofya, deservedly so: they completely bring back to life two people who lived, loved and fought for 48 years side by side, while creating some of the world's greatest novels together.
Like probably for most of the people, their marriage was full of happiness, laughter, frustrations and compromises - strong personalities who needed each other and the movie shows fascinating interaction between them as they fight about publishing rights that might pass into public domain (Tolstoy's well-intended but somehow clumsy and selfish idea, considering his wealth should provide his family estate with comfortable life after his death).
Finally on the story it is a story that starts by being more happy than expected but by the end darker tones come in and not to ruin it but it is dark until the very last few scenes(well kind of).Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren(both nominated for Oscars) do superb and although Ii actually didn't feel this was Mirren's best, she still did a great job as the slightly damaged wife.
All the viewer knows within the film is that Tolstoy detested wealth and valued love an some sort of communal living and that his wife lost then regained rights to his material, but how those factors impact his legacy or philosophies remains unclear, even after reading the words that appear on screen at the end of the film, which for a historical drama were unsatisfyingly brief..
Even though The Last Station was very acclaimed by film critics, I must confess I was not very interested in watching it.Its cast of excellent actors attracted me to some point, but I thought that the subject it deals with (the last days of the acclaimed writer León Tolstóy) was cold and depressing, besides of the fact I am not a very big fan of Tolstóy's work; in fact, the two times I tried to read War and Peace, I could not surpass the 100 pages, and not because it bored me, but because the archaic style, obsessive detail and huge list of characters overwhelm the reason (at least in my case).Nevertheless, I decided to give The Last Station a try and watch it and, to my surprise, the film ended up being a very interesting experience thanks to its perfect performances and its solid narrative, which has multiple levels of interpretation and a rich attention to the details.However, The Last Station is not perfect.The well-written story from this movie also works as an excuse to examine the Tolstoy philosophy.I personally think that every plan of economical utopia and social harmony (not only the ones from Tolstoy, but also the ones from Marx, Rousseau or Chomsky) seems naive for not considering the inherent vices from humanity, but it is anyway interesting to contemplate the process which concluded to its creation.On that aspect, I think The Last Station fulfills with its objective thanks to its accessible dialogues and very entertaining discussions.And besides of that, we have Michael Hoffman's elegant direction, nice cinematography and magnificent performances from Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren, James McAvoy and the great Paul Giamatti.As for the negative elements, I can mention that the romance between the McAvoy's and Kerry Condon's characters occasionally derails the narrative without a particular purpose; and I also felt that ending is extended a bit more than it should.However, neither of those fails avoid me from recommending The Last Station as entertainment with some substance, which invites to the reflection and ingestion of new ideas..
This film is a drama focusing of the final days of the Russian literary giant Leo Tolstoy, particularly on his relationships with his wife and his friend Vladimir Chertkov."The Last Station" is engaging, touching and gripping, it makes you glued to the screen to see what will ultimately happen.
The Last Station follows Valentin Bulgakov (James McAvoy), a member of the Tolstoyan movement, who is sent to aid Tolstoy in convincing him to sign over the rights to his work to the people of Russia, and not to his wife, the Countess.
To find fault in The Last Station because it does not address the problem of the Russian Aristocracy's exorbitant habits, and their relationship to the struggling peasant class, is like condemning the movie for not discovering who was responsible for the murder on the Orient Express, or insufficiently detailing the party life of Holly Golightly- that is to say, the two are entirely unrelated.Although the content of the story concerns the aging Leo Tolstoy and his wife, Sofya, the protagonist of the movie is Valentin Bulgakov (played by James McAvoy), and so, the principle conflict is, in fact, about his personal devotion to the Tolsotyian doctrines, and how his personal goals and values change as a result of his employment under Tolstoy.
The movie focuses on the "War and Peace" author's last few weeks alive in 1910, and is told through the eyes of young Valentin Bulgakov (James McAvoy), a young secretary sent to work for Tolstoy.I should say that the portrayal of Sofya's frustration with her husband's dying wishes (to leave his work to the Russian people, thereby leaving her nothing) was pretty over-the-top, but I could understand her feelings.
Other 10 star reviews have already said all I would want to say.Therefore I'll restrict my review to a few simple words.This is a magnificent film, the best I have seen in the last twelve months (and i am a "twice a week" film goer) Great story, brilliant acting and a joy to look at; the attention to detail is breathtaking.Great that Helen Mirren has been recognised with award nominations but sad that Christopher Plummer, arguably the finest film actor of his generation, has been overlooked.The Last Station is as good as Doctor Zhivago and in my mind there is no higher accolade..
They are both nominated for Oscars (somehow, his first), though neither appear to be a front runner.Based on Jay Parini's novel, director Michael Hoffman (One Fine Day) brings us a look at the last year in the life of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, who wrote two of the finest novels of all-time (War and Peace, Anna Karenina).
Michael Hoffman's delightful new film "The Last Station" brings it all into beautiful focus and gives us a deep, troubling but poignant peak at one great man's mind and his discordant relationship with the woman of his life.In the film, Countess Sofya Tolstoya (played to perfection by Helen Mirren) is a dramatic, outspoken and witty woman who, notwithstanding her devotion to her husband, is against his every ideology.
Tolstoy is a kind, warm-hearted and influential man torn between following the ideals he set for the public and the love and responsibility he has toward his wife.His best friend, Chertkov (Paul Giamatti) and political leader of his party and virtually all his affairs, loathes Sofya as much as she loathes him, and sees her as the only threat to the Tolstoyan movement; the author's work is constantly delayed and set back because of her influence over him and he seeks to vanquish it.
THE LAST STATION – CATCH IT ( B- ) The last Station is Biography of famous philosopher & writer Leo Tolstoy & his relationship with his wife in final years of his life
The movie is like a Biography So, it seems lengthy at times
Helen Mirren Standout in the movie she is Indeed the Queen of Hollywood
Her portrayal of an agonizing & loving wife is Excellent
James McAvoy is Charming as Alwayz.
Fortunately, English-speaking performers are acting out these final days of famed Russian author Leo Tolstoy's life.Russia 1910: Aspiring writer Valetine Bulgakov (James McAvoy) is hired by Vladimir Chertkov (Paul Giamatti) to work for his idol, Leo Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer), at his country estate.
His wife, Sophia (Helen Mirren) wars openly with the head of his movement Chertkov (Paul Giamatti), who she claims in his efforts to convince Tolstoy to sign the rights to his works over to the Russian people is trying to steal the wealth that is owed to her upon her husbands imminent death.
Both Mirren and Plummer were nominated for Oscars in the best actress and supporting actor divisions, respectively and deservedly lost to Sandra Bullock and Christoph Waltz, respectively.The movie is a slow moving one with a sidebar story of Tolstoy's social secretary finding love in the commune that the writer has set up.The film is extremely slow moving and brooding with Paul Giamatti, the friend of Plummer, stealing every scene that he is in.
The story sees Tolstoy's disciples, led by Vladimir Chertkov (Paul Giamatti), trying to get control of his legacy and the copyright of his works, after he dies, from his wife Sofya (Dame Helen Mirren).
Sasha is a very emotional person, like her mother and that creates some very interesting scenes toward the end.Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer absolutely carry the movie with their portrayals of the Tolstoys. |
tt0086859 | Against All Odds | Professional football player Terry Brogan (Jeff Bridges) is released by his team. Aging, injured and in need of money, he is contacted by an old acquaintance, the shady gambler and nightclub owner Jake Wise (James Woods), who wants Terry to find Jake's girlfriend Jessie Wyler (Rachel Ward), daughter of the Outlaws' owner. Jake claims that Jessie assaulted him, stole money and fled. Terry is reluctant to take on the job, but needs the money and knows Wise is capable of blackmailing him.
Terry gets in touch with Jessie's mother (Jane Greer), ostensibly to find out where Jessie can be found, but mainly to convince Mrs. Wyler and her business partner Ben Caxton (Richard Widmark) to reinstate him on the team. Mrs. Wyler makes clear that she has no interest in his football career. She's willing to pay him more than Jake would if he will find Jessie for her. Beyond that, she has no use for him. Hank Sully (Alex Karras), the team's trainer, strongly advises Terry to stay away from Jake and offers to help Terry get a coaching job. Terry is convinced his days as a player are not over and instead decides to work for Jake to tide him over until the next season, when he can try to continue his playing career.
Terry finds Jessie living in Cozumel. He makes multiple attempts to approach Jessie, but she rebuffs him, aware that he must have been sent by either Jake or her mother. Terry tires of pursuing a spoiled brat and packs to leave, but Jessie appreciates that he hasn't revealed her whereabouts and invites him to see where she is staying. They become lovers. Terry confides the leverage Jake has over him is the knowledge that Terry once shaved points in an important game after he had fallen into debt.
Terry and Jessie remain happily together for a few weeks, with Terry continuing to tell Jake he's been unsuccessful in locating her. Sully is sent by Jake to investigate. He catches the lovers alone at the ruins of Chichen Itza. Wielding a gun, Sully demands that Terry turn over the girl and warns him she's "no good." He, too, has been involved in corruption with Jake's sports syndicate. A struggle between the men ensues and Jessie fatally shoots Sully. She wants to flee, as the two will be unable to offer an explanation that will allow them to avoid jail. But when Terry refuses, insisting that the two cannot just run away from the matter, Jessie abandons him.
After disposing of Sully's body, Terry returns to Los Angeles and finds to his astonishment that Jessie has returned to Jake. He is bitter toward her, but Jake maintains a hold over him with the point-shaving incident, as well as Sully's sudden disappearance. Terry is sent to break into the office of Kirsch (Saul Rubinek), the team's corrupt lawyer, who is also involved in Jake's gambling operation. Terry's mission is to retrieve Kirsch's files, which implicate everyone involved.
Terry breaks into the office only to find Kirsch dead. A security guard has been hired to kill Terry and make it look like Terry committed the murder. Terry fights off the security guard, then hides Kirsch's body. He finds a local bar frequented by Kirsch's secretary, Edie (Swoosie Kurtz), where he tells her what has happened and that she too is in danger. Edie tells him about a secret box that contains the information to bring down the entire syndicate and local politicians. They return to the office to retrieve the box, where a fight occurs with another two guards, but again Terry escapes, this time with Edie and the files.
Jessie remains at Jake's side but claims to be still in love with Terry. She knows that Jake is behind Kirsch's murder and informs Caxton, telling him that Jake has been handling bets on his old football team using information he's been given by Sully and Kirsch. What she doesn't know is that Caxton is actually Jake's boss at the syndicate.
Caxton takes charge. He arranges to meet Terry at the site of a new construction project that he and Mrs. Wyler are backing. Terry is able to disarm Caxton's armed henchman Tommy (Dorian Harewood). He says his price for turning over the files is that Caxton must take down Jake. Caxton indicates he is receptive to that idea, whereupon Jake pulls his own gun and threatens to kill Jessie, forcing Terry to drop his weapon. While the men have their attention focused on each other, Jessie retrieves the dropped gun and shoots Jake.
Having killed both Jake and Sully, she must agree to terms set by Caxton to avoid going to jail. Caxton's terms include Jessie returning to her estranged mother's side and ending her relationship with Terry.
Months later, Terry stays in the background while attending a publicity function for Caxton's and Mrs. Wyler's construction project. He just wants a last look at Jessie before leaving Los Angeles to play for a team in Miami. Caxton reminds him that he is no longer a part of Jessie's life. Terry acknowledges that this is true for the moment, but predicts that some day Jessie will break free of the hold that Caxton and Mrs. Wyler have on her. In the meantime, all Terry and Jessie can do is stare at one another from a distance. | neo noir, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0075930 | God Told Me To | In New York City, a gunman perched atop a water tower opens fire with a high-powered rifle on the crowded streets below, randomly killing fifteen pedestrians. Peter Nicholas (Tony Lo Bianco), a devout Catholic NYPD detective, climbs the tower to talk to the sniper. Before jumping to his death, the gunman tells Nicholas that God told him to commit the murders.
Although traumatized by the attack, Nicholas investigates a series of seemingly unpremeditated murders that follow: a mass stabbing at a supermarket, a mass shooting at a St. Patrick's Day parade, the gun deaths of a woman and her children. They have all been committed by a variety of unconnected, seemingly normal assailants who claim that God told them to kill. Nicholas learns that one of the murderers knew a long-haired young man named Bernard Phillips. When Nicholas visits Phillips' address, Phillips' mother assaults Nicholas with a knife, but she dies during the attack by falling down a flight of stairs. She turns out to have been a virgin and to have once claimed she was abducted by aliens. Nicholas' superiors refuse to acknowledge a religious motivation for the murders and suspend him, so he leaks this story to the press, causing a panic.
A group of men, members of a religious cult, are aware that their leader, Bernard Phillips (Richard Lynch), is influencing the murderers as he contacts and controls them via psychic powers and as he has informed them of each impending atrocity. Phillips has one of the members invite Nicholas to join them, but when Nicholas asks whether the follower knows about Phillips' mother, the follower suffers convulsions and drops dead. Another cult member attempts to kill Nicholas by pushing him in front of a subway train, but when he fails, Nicholas forces him to take him to Phillips, who isolates himself in a fiery furnace room deep underground. After delivering Nicholas, the follower decapitates himself using an elevator. A brief meeting convinces Nicholas that he himself is special and that Phillips does not kill him as he needs him for some purpose.
By researching his own adoption records, Nicholas finds an old woman who seems to be his birth mother. She explains that she gave up her out-of-wedlock child after she was impregnated by a strange orb of light while she walked home from the New York Worlds Fair in 1941. The meeting distresses both of them, and Nicholas is wracked with doubt over who or what he is.
He confronts Phillips one last time and discovers the truth: both he and Phillips are the result of "virgin births" caused by a mysterious extraterrestrial "entity of light" with psychic or supernatural powers and advanced spacecraft technology. Nicholas' human genes are dominant, which is why he is unaware of his true nature, while Phillips is more like their unseen progenitor. Phillips reveals himself to be a hermaphrodite who wishes to spawn a new species with his "brother." Nicholas refuses and attacks Phillips, who uses his powers to destroy the building they are in and thereby commit suicide. Nicholas is arrested for the murder of Phillips. As he is led into court by police, a news reporter asks him why he committed the crime. He responds, "God told me to." Nicholas is committed to the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. | paranormal, cult, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0196635 | International Khiladi | News Reporter Payal (Twinkle Khanna) and her camera-man have been assigned the task of interviewing the world's highest ranking criminal don, Devraj (Akshay Kumar), which they accept. In the process, Payal and Devraj fall in love with each other,much to the opposition of Bismillah (Mukesh Khanna), Devraj's guardian on one hand; and Police Inspector Amit (Rajat Bedi), and Payal's brother Ravi (Vivek Shauq) on the other. What results is that Ravi is killed with Devraj being blamed and arrested. Payal tesitifies against him, and Devraj is sentenced to be hanged. When Bismillah finds about this plot, he tracks them down, but Amit kills him to save himself and Payal. But Devraj escapes from custody, and begins to plot vengeance against his enemies, including Payal, as well as the real killer of Ravi. As the story unfolds, it is revealed that Amit was the one who killed Ravi and joined Thakral to frame Devraj for it. But Amit betrays Thakral and kills him. He then takes Payal on a flight where Devraj tracks him down and kills him. The story ends with Payal and Devraj getting married. | murder, flashback | train | wikipedia | excellent.
Hi, If u r a hard core Akshay fan like me,u cant miss this 1.Superb action,and good twist in the end marks this action film as akshay's one of the best action flicks in his career.Even Twinkle looks good in the movie.At the time of this release akshay was so popular as KHILADI that it got a huge opening in the first week.Akshay really looks terrific in the movie as a don.A must watch film for all akshay fans.It has some good songs in the film too.
My favourite is the title song and it was really pulsating to see akshay dive from a plane from such a height.Akshay has always been performing his own stunts.He is one of the good looking heroes in our film industry..
A great action movie!.
I thought that International Khildai was an awesome movie!
Of course it was all in Hindi and had no subtitles, but but after my friend explained some parts, I understood.
It was a great, unintentional comedy!
The acting wasn't so hot in it compared with American acting, but my friends and I still enjoyed watcing it thouroughly.
A great movie.....
Superb action movie still entertaining.
This movie was brilliant and entertaining but it's really good story line and entertaining but it's really good comedy and action and good suspense thriller Hi my name is Aaron and my reason why I was watching this movie because one of my favorite actors akshay Kumar is in itAkshay Kumar was brilliant as always rajat bedi was fine in he is negative character but he shouldn't overacted in some scenes Twinkle is alright gulshan Grover is the funny villain Overall it's really impressive my rating is 7/10.
A Guilty Pleasure.
Akshay Kumar is my guilty pleasure.
He's an atrociously bad actor, and he dances like...well, like a body-builder, but he's so pretty to look at, and he can seriously kick butt, which I do enjoy from time to time.Twinkle Khanna isn't much better an actor than Kumar, and she's not as pretty as he is either, but she was good enough for a stinker of a film like this.International Khiladi is one of those really good bad films: funny for all the wrong reasons.
It uses every cheap trick known to Hindi cinema, throwing red herrings at you left and right, showing scenes that later turn out never to have happened.
And it pulls no punches going for the cheap tear-jerk reaction, or the cheap laugh, or the cheap thrill.The story, if I remember, revolves around an international crime lord who is accused of murdering an undercover policeman, and of raping the policeman's sister.
The plot unfolds as the story is re-told from the different points of view of several of the characters, kind of like Kirusawa's Roshomon.
The uneven mix of slapstick comedy and brutal violence is par for Hindi films, but unfortunately a lot of the humor is just lame.
It does have one or two nice songs, set to some of Kumar's endearingly klutzy dancing.But I have to say, it kept my attention, and I was never bored..
Flop Khiladi.
After the success of KHILADI, KHILADIYON KA KHILADI and SBK Akshay returned with another KHILADI this time INTERNATIONAL KHILADI directed by Umesh Mehra who directed th last 2 KhiladisThis movie tries hard to be a thriller but ends up being a badly done one The film starts off well but stagnates when the entire lovey dovey part starts which is amateurish also the entire murder mystery is handled in a confusing manner which gets irritatingThe Gulshan Grover scenes too are tedious while many scenes suffer from bad SFX and stunts and the climax is laughableDirection is below average Music is okayAkshay looks better then his ape hair days in this film but he tries too hard to emote which shows otherwise he does a better job as the DON Twinkle annoys Rajat Bedi is awful here, he struggles to act Mukesh Khanna is typecast Gulshan Grover annoys Johny Lever is as usual.
Khiladi film gone wrong.
Akshay Kumar is known as the biggest Khiladi(player) in Bollywood.
Not only is he B Town's most bankable actor but some of his performances are just remarkable.
However, just like any other actor, Kumar too has faced failures in his Bollywod career.
Akshay Kumar however has faced a lot of failures but this never destroyed his hope.
He always worked hard and success is what he achieved after loads of hard work.
However, some of his films are the worst Bollywood films I've ever seen.
Take Zakhmi Dil, Dil Ki Baazi for an example.International Khiladi is one of Akshay's Khiladi films which was his most successful franchise in the 90s.
This series lifted him up from loads of box office failures in the 90s with the help of other hits and average hits in the 90s.
This franchise continued but sadly, none of the Khiladi films after Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi(1996) did good.
Mr and Mrs Khiladi was an box office flop, this film was a box office flop too and Khiladi 420 was a box office disaster.
However, Khiladi 786 which released recently has proved to be a box office hit.
This is certainly a revival to the series as it completely sank with 3 films in the 1997-2000 time period.International Khiladi isn't a completely awful film like many of Akshay's earlier B grade flops and mainstream duds.
However, it is certainly one of his not so good films.
The film is bad but not awful.
The promos promised a decent well made thriller but the movie becomes anything but a well made thriller.
The movie doesn't even come close to being as good as superior thrillers from this generation like Taalash.
The thrill factor is missing and what we get is a clichéd and badly edited wannabe thriller movie.The story is done to death and there is no point narrating it as it will be the same thing as any Bollywood movie with cool stunts, some foreign localities, and some dialogs.
However, the movie isn't entirely bad.The movie contains cool and fantastic stunts which none of the Masala films contain nowadays.
The best part are some of the dialogs too, the film gets funny in the pre interval portions where Twinkle is trying hard to meet and interview Twinkle but is constantly failing.For the most part, the film is bad due to various reasons.
The clichéd and poorly edited script brings the whole film down.
Yes, I agree that most 90s films never had a good story but that doesn't mean make a horrible crap story and lap it all up together.
There are so many predictable scenes that the movie becomes annoying to watch.
The reason why Akshay became a don is poorly shown, the injustice done to his mother by his father is a good background element but the handling of this is quite poor.
The movie again has a good idea of creating a thriller movie but the handling of the film brings the whole film down.
The way the film is narrated is quite awful.
What saves the film from being a completely awful film though is the performances.Akshay Kumar does his best as the don and even if he overacts in a few scenes, he does a good job as the don.
Twinkle Khanna overacts for the most part but she has some good scenes like the comedy in the first half to an extent.
Gulshan Grover is getting extremely typecast doing the same types of comical villain roles.
Although a few of his dialogs like the DIL GARDEN GARDEN HO GAYA is funny.
But, that dialog is repeated so much it gets annoying after the first few times.
The rest provide average support.
Music is average, the title song is awesome while the rest are fillers.On the whole, International Khiladi is a bad film at the most part.
It has a few plus points like some performances, stylish action sequences but most of the film makes it a bad one.
At the box office, the only thing it could do is get a good opening but the drop was huge and the film flopped ultimately. |
tt0048317 | Love Me or Leave Me | After kicking a customer for getting fresh, 1920s Chicago nightclub singer Ruth Etting is in jeopardy of losing her job when Martin Snyder intervenes on her behalf. Snyder, known as "The Gimp" to some because of his game leg, owns a laundry business and runs a protection racket, wielding considerable clout.
Etting and her piano accompanist Johnny Alderman are grateful, but Snyder makes it clear he expects Etting to travel to Miami with him, not for business but for pleasure. Etting declines, but Snyder's interest in her continues. Through an agent, Bernie Loomis, he arranges a radio program to feature Etting, followed by a job with the famed Ziegfeld Follies. His crude behavior and violent temper cause Etting a number of problems along the way.
Johnny is in love with Etting as well, but she marries Snyder out of gratitude. His heavy-handed management continues as her popularity grows. Goaded to get into the entertainment business, Snyder decides to open a nightclub of his own. Upset at sensing a relationship resuming between Etting and Johnny during their filming of a Hollywood movie, Snyder strikes her. He then catches them together, shoots Johnny and is arrested.
Horrified but conflicted because of all Snyder has done for her career, Etting arranges for Loomis to bail him out of jail. At his neglected nightclub, Snyder arrives to find that Etting is performing there herself. At first enraged by what he perceives as an act of charity, Snyder finally realizes this is Etting's way of showing her appreciation, even if she can't be part of his life any longer. | romantic | train | wikipedia | The Marty Snyders never change, and Cagney knows it; he stays the self-deluded small-time hood he started out as, who can't accept that he's driven away a woman he can't believe he loves so much.Day, however, rises to a magnanimity that rings hollow.
But her real acting triumph came with this hard-hitting Ruth Etting biography in which she does an amazing job as the torch singer involved with a gangster boyfriend (James Cagney).
Cagney has never been more impressive as the Chicago hood who manages her career--and Day manages to match him every step of the way with a gutsy, heart-felt performance.Also shown to good advantage is Cameron Mitchell as an admirer with real affection for Day. Their scenes together have a poignant quality because you know how deep the feelings go on both sides.
A highly dramatic musical, it makes you wonder what Day's career might have been like if she remained at Metro for more such films rather than the sugar-and-spice things she did at Warner Bros.
Although Day is effective in the role and looks a treat, the best acting performance in the movie comes from James Cagney as Marty The Gimp' Snyder, Etting's manager and husband.
Cameron Mitchell plays Johnny the loyal piano player who waits for Etting to find her own way, while Robert Keith is good as Barney, close friend to both Snyder and his wife.Good Technicolor and a Cinemascope treatment makes the movie look good, and the arrangements are excellent.
Day is nothing like the real Ruth Etting either in looks or voice, but she does well in one of her last great musical roles..
This film pre-dates & set the standard for films like Barbra Streisand's "Funny Girl" & Diana Ross' "Lady Sings The Blues", two other great films which showcased singers in acting roles playing real-life people.
"Love Me Or Leave Me" was Doris Day's MGM "extravagaza" (after several formula, cookie-cutter musicals at Warner Bros.) playing Ruth Etting a torch singer from the 1920's.
The bio-based storyline plays out like somewhat like a crime drama, while the musical portion rings forth with twelve complete full-bodied numbers.The casting is truly inspired: what a coup getting Doris Day, at the peak of her physical, acting and vocal powers to be cast in a real-life role, while snaring the brilliant, often breathtaking James Cagney--forever at the peak of his powers--as the indestructible "Gimp." Together they create fireworks, playing off one another's sweet 'n' sour characterizations with great relish.
Doris Day portrays singing great Ruth Etting in "Love Me or Leave Me," a 1955 film costarring James Cagney and Cameron Mitchell.
The film tells the story, somewhat fictionalized, of Etting's rise to fame in the 1920s and her association and marriage to Marty "The Gimp" Snyder, a Chicago gangster.
Doris looks and sounds fantastic, singing a huge amount of music, including "Ten Cents a Dance," the title song, "Chasing the Blues Away" and many others.Cagney gives an extremely powerful performance as Marty, a pushy little man with a huge insecurity and a passion for Ruth.
The music is wonderful too, with the title number and Ten Cents a Dance wonderfully performed by Day. The two leads are great, Doris Day is a knockout complete with a sexy new image and a great understanding to the role she portrays with great warmth and freshness here, while James Cagney in a tough guy role, one of his better later roles is even better.In conclusion, maybe not for those looking for the truth, but for entertainment value and a fun film Love Me or Leave Me is just the ticket.
Though not big on the facts, it is a wonderfully compelling drama with music chronicling the rise of the troubled young torch singer, who, according to this film's screenplay, had a trouble getting her career going until she met a gangster named Jimmy "The Gimp" Snyder (James Cagney), whose dangerous exterior melted in Etting's presence escalating to his Svengali-like grip on her career and her personal life.
Fact-Based Musical Knock Out. During the late 1940s and early 1950s musicals acquired a distinctly noir-ish quality, and the life of singer Ruth Etting was made to order.Born in 1896, Etting was a hardknocks chorus girl when she caught the eye of small-time Chicago hood Martin "Moe the Gimp" Snyder, who married her in 1922 and proceeded to promote her career--occasionally, according to rumor, at gun point.
Her performance in LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME is often considered her high-water mark as a dramatic actress: she gives it everything she's got, and the sparks really fly when she and Cagney square off.The look of the film, which was directed by Charles Vidor and sports art direction by the legendary Cedrick Gibbons, is beautiful, and the film moves at a smart clip; its one failing is that censorship issues of the era left several scenes--including a legendary rape sequence--on the cutting room floor.
Doris Day is superb in this dramatic role that also calls for quite a bit of singing and dancing within the context playing Etting on stage.
Doris Day, star of many light musical comedies, proves that she can REALLY act, as well as SING in this movie.As Ruth Etting, songstress from the 1920's, she meets small-time Chicago hood Marty Snyder (James Cagney) who meets Ruth at a "ten cents a dance" emporium.
We never get enough of seeing movies about fallen stars who left a place in our hearts.This particular movie always interested me, I saw this movie on Turner Classic Movies and fell in love with the singing of Doris Day, I didn't know there was a real Ruth Etting, I didn't know she was really portraying a real life singer, I didn't check out the real Ruth Etting until 2 years ago, I saw her for the first time in "Hips Hips Hooray" on Turner Classic Movies and was kind of shocked the real Ruth wasn't anything like how Doris Day portrayed her.
The two things that Ruth and Doris did have in common was they both sing with great feeling and emotion.The real Ruth Etting seems frail and too sweet, she's adorable, which makes me wonder why she hooked up with a gangster anyway but then again looks can be deceiving, I heard she wasn't the sweet, girl next door type in the first place and she wasn't so naive and a pushover like Doris Day portrayed her.
Out of MGM, Love Me or Leave Me is directed by Charles Vidor and stars Doris Day, James Cagney & Cameron Mitchell.
Written by Daniel Fuchs and Isobel Lennart, the film is loosely based on the true story of legendary 20s torch singer Ruth Etting (Day) and her rise to fame propelled by Chicago gangster Marty "The Gimp" Snyder (Cagney).
It's shot in CinemaScope/Eastmancolor and features a number of Etting standards along with a couple of new tunes written especially for the film.Vidor's movie was a box office success that earned six Oscar nominations, one of which was for Cagney in the Best Actor category.
******** Love Me or Leave Me (5/26/55) Charles Vidor ~ Doris Day, James Cagney, Cameron Mitchell.
And though much is made of Miss Etting's film career--you'd have thought she was a great movie musical star--her Hollywood sojourn was actually brief and unimpressive.
One of the things that struck me was that while Joaquin Phoenix had a much tougher job because Johnny Cash was performing almost up to the end and had a distinctive sound that I didn't think anyone could match, Phoenix did a very good job in capturing him.On the other hand Ruth Etting had not been seen in films for over 20 years, nor had she made a record in that length of time either.
Ain't that a piece of irony itself.Cameron Mitchell as Johnny Alderman (real first name Myrl) does very well as the man who eventually became her second husband as does the rest of the cast.All three of the people that Day, Cagney, and Mitchell portray were still alive at the time that Love Me or Leave me was being filmed.
"Love Me or Leave Me" is the fictionalized but essentially accurate biopic of Ruth Etting (Doris Day), popular vocalist from the 1920s and 30s.
It's a tragic story about an ambitious but principled young woman who attracts the attention of a gangster, Marty Snyder (James Cagney), with an inferiority complex and a need for control.Cagney plays his part with such conviction that the film is not enjoyable to watch.
Doris Day and James Cagney are excellent in this lush Technicolor story that details the career of singer Ruth Etting.
Doris Day is such a fabulous comedienne that to see her being berated constantly by James Cagney, at his most pugilistic playing Chicago gangster Marty "The Gimp" Snyder, is something of a drag.
Day was perhaps too old at this point to be cast as real-life 1920s singer Ruth Etting, a fledgling songbird who rose from dance-hall hostess to nightclub sensation with help from Snyder.
However as her career begins to outshine the one-town criminal muscle, Martin struggles with how unnecessary he has become.I taped this as the combination of two stars like Day and Cagney was enough to make me interested in it - prior to this I had never heard of Ruth Etting, but I don't think that mattered as the film didn't assume pre-knowledge at any point.
I'd never seen Doris Day in a dramatic role, and I was really impressed by her in "Love Me or Leave Me," in which she plays nightclub singer Ruth Etting.
The film follows her tumultuous relationship with small-time gangster Martin Snyder, played in an Oscar-nominated performance by James Cagney.
In addition to Cagney's Oscar nomination, the film won the award for Best Motion Picture Story, while it was also nominated for Best Screenplay, Best Musical Scoring, Best Original Song (for "I'll Never Stop Loving You"), and Best Sound Recording.
It's impossible to pick just one Doris Day to movie to watch in your life, but if you have to choose only three, I insist you watch Romance on the High Seas, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Love Me or Leave Me. Even though she neither looks nor sounds anything like Ruth Etting, Doris Day gives an incredible performance in this biopic of the famous 1920s singer.
Ruth started out in a dance hall, as described in one of her most famous songs "Ten Cents a Dance" before she was discovered by powerful mobster Marty Snyder, played in the film by James Cagney.
On the upside, Robert Keith and Harry Bellaver are very likable and sweet in their supporting roles, so it's relatively easy to drown Cameron out and pretend he's not in the movie.Love Me or Leave Me is a fantastic movie, an essential for James Cagney, Doris Day, or musical fans.
I Loved it And Would Never Leave It. After a series of silly, fun-loving movies, 1955 was a big year for Doris Day. That year saw her handed the role of singer Ruth Etting, who made it to the top but whose personal life suffered for her success.The film begins with a chance meeting by Etting at a dime-a-dance joint with gangster Martin Snyder, brilliantly played by James Cagney.
In addition to the old Etting favorites, she sings the new song I'll Never Stop Loving You.Cowboy movie actor, Cameron Mitchell, turns in an equally strong performance as piano player, Johnny Alderman, who leaves Etting, out of disgust for the way she is being dominated, only to encounter her years later, when the two of them are working on a movie.
Boring biopic about the relationship between singer Ruth Etting (Doris Day) and gangster Moe Snyder (James Cagney).
Although some of the biographical aspects of Ruth Etting's life and career appear to be glossed over or absent, this film, nevertheless, has so much going for it: A strong (albeit, modified) story; great acting by all; and the best soundtrack of Doris Day's career (the album was #1 on the charts for months).The scenes between Day and Cagney are electrifying and make the tension between them and the inevitable consequences of their fraught relationship totally convincing.
See this film for Doris Day's singing, for a glimpse at the career (even if skewed) of a major but nearly forgotten star of another era (Ruth Etting),and for the dynamic pairing of Day and Cagney..
This film is the story of 20's singer Ruth Etting and her marriage to Marty Snyder.
After seven years and seventeen pictures at Warner Brothers, Doris Day moved to MGM to star in a dramatic musical based on the life of 30s singing star, Ruth Etting.
Shot in CinemaScope and Technicolor, it was a lavish film.Doris Day gave the performance of her career and matched the great James Cagney in the acting department.
The critics were raving loud and clear and rumors of Oscars for Miss Day and Cagney were often discussed.The story concerned a young singing hopeful, Ruth Etting, in 20s Chicago who meets a tough gangster, Martin Snyder, who strong-arms her to fame.
"I'll Never Stop Loving You", which became a big record hit for Miss Day and an Oscar nominee for Best Song, and "Never Look Back", a gorgeous ballad done with a full orchestra.Her big extravagant Follies number, "Shaking the Blues Away" was typical MGM and a far cry from anything she did at Warner Brothers.Cameron Mitchell as Johnny Alderman, the musical director who loves Etting, Harry Bellaver, Robert Keith and Tom Tully were all first rate.
Doris Day (playing wonderfully against type) stars as 1920's chanteuse Ruth Etting (who needs discovery badly); James Cagney is gangster Marty Snyder who comes to her professional rescue, and the amazing thing is that had the film ended on just this oil-and-water partnership alone, it would've been sensational.
But it seemed to come so easily to Day that when she made the 1955 biopic of 1920's singer Ruth Etting, LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME, some of her fans were shocked.
For while LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME has plenty of music in it, sung only as Day could sing, it was a far cry from the lightweight stuff people associated with her.LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME is a slightly fictionalized biography of Ruth Etting, who was quite a big singing star in the 1920s and who actually made a couple of film appearances in the early sound era.
Marrying Snyder out of a sense of obligation, she does not love him and it isn't long before she is in utter misery, particularly when she goes to Hollywood and reunites with old flame Johnny Alderman (Cameron Mitchell), who she still carries a torch for but does not dare to get close to for fear of what her insanely jealous husband will do.This is by far the hardest-hitting film Doris Day ever made, and pitted against the immortal Cagney, she reveals a set of acting chops as sharp and as hungry as his.
(Singer Ruth Etting and her small time gangster husband/promoter Marty Snyder were real life people.
This film is said to be a partly fictional view of their marriage and breakup.)Doris Day plays Ruth Etting well.
If you doubt that Doris Day could play deeper dramatic roles, this film (along with films like "The Man Who Knew Too Much") should convince you otherwise...(We already know to expect a great performance from Cagney.).
However, in 'Love Me Or Leave Me' Day smolders sensuality, proving that her acting chops were sadly underrated during the rest of her career.The film is a musical bio based on the rather sorted life and times of torch singer, Ruth Etting (Day).
It is also a harrowing portrait of an abusive relationship, in this case a fictionalized Ruth Etting and her manager/husband Marty Snyder, played to perfection by Doris Day and James Cagney.Though Day's characterization of Etting is not entirely accurate to the real woman, it is an interesting subversion of her "good girl" image by portraying a character who plays up an innocent image for her own advantage.
The sultry Ruth Etting has survived the test of time thanks to vintage footage of her performing in a variety of musical shorts and feature films, but for years, all most people knew about her was what they had seen in this movie.
In LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME, the MGM studio courageously exposes the underbelly of American "success." Among the DVD extras are two films foisted off on the public back in the day by the gangsters behind the subject of this expose\Biopic, "singer" Ruth Etting.
In 1955, at almost the chronological mid-point of her film career (1948-1968) Doris Day made what are arguably the two finest films in which she ever appeared, Young At Heart and Love Me Or Leave Me. Both are best classified as Musical Drama and in both she played opposite a character whose screen name was Barney.
The two films, however, are quite different in style, `Love Me or Leave Me' being a typical musical, whereas `I'll Cry Tomorrow' is more of an uncompromising study of the decline of the central character.Ruth Etting, as played by Doris Day, and Snyder, as played by Jimmy Cagney, are presented here as being completely different in character.
Ergo, the conclusion is: it's not a musical.FURTHER COMPLICATING THE story is accomplished with the intrusion of a local Gangster (Cagney) into the life of singer-wannabe, Ruth Etting (Doris Day).
Basically one day in a bar that she used to work in, Ruth Etting (Doris Day) met producer Martin Snyder (Oscar nominated James Cagney) who could promise a new and better paid career on stage.
The veteran actor proved his mettle as Martin "Marty" Snyder in "Love Me or Leave Me." Doris Day was an excellent singer and she does a very good job in this film. |
tt0047334 | Passion | Christine, an advertising executive, is attempting to gain professional and romantic power over her up-and-coming subordinate, Isabelle, as revenge for her affair with Christine's lover, Dirk. Christine does everything in her power to ruin Isabelle's reputation and relationships. She also tries to fire Isabelle's secretary, Dani. Because of these events, Isabelle seemingly becomes emotionally destitute and develops an addiction to prescription drugs.
After Christine is found dead, Isabelle is arrested and confesses to the murder while in a drug-induced trance. Desperate to prove her innocence, Isabelle shows the police that she has an alibi on the evening the murder took place. Dirk, having been drunk after being rejected by Christine, is arrested after a scarf with Christine's blood on it turns up in his car. Isabelle is freed and Dirk is charged with the murder despite his denials.
Eventually, it is revealed that Isabelle had murdered Christine, and set everything up to convince everyone that she was having a nervous breakdown while framing Dirk for the crime. Dani, who secretly is in love with Isabelle, reveals that she had captured Isabelle on video with her cellphone at various moments during the night of the murder. Dani then tries to blackmail Isabelle into becoming her lover. That night, Isabelle has a strange dream where she strangles Dani after being seduced by her, but not before Dani sends the video incriminating Isabelle to the investigating police detective. Suddenly, Christine's twin sister appears and strangles Isabelle from behind with a bloodstained scarf. The next moment, Isabelle wakes up in her own bedroom from her nightmare only to face a new one with Dani lying dead at the foot of her bed. | revenge, murder | train | wikipedia | Peculiar Western about a relentless revenge with very good support cast.
This story is set on early California's wild and wicked pioneers days .
It's a particular Western with a magnificent Cornel Wilde seeking vendetta against the killers of his loved ones and a splendid Yvonne De Carlo in double role .
This moving picture tells the story of Juan ( Cornel Wilde) a respected citizen who returns to the rancho of his old friend Gaspar (John Qualen) , he comes and just promised marriage his young girlfriend (Yvonne De Carlo) and settle down for a peaceful existence .
Just when they are about to marry ,comes the vengeful Sandro (Rodolfo Acosta) and his henchmen (Lon Chaney Jr , Frank DeKova) and murder the family .
Juan has sworn revenge , detain and undercover the gunfighters.
Juan kills some of them and is pursued by deputies (Raymond Burr and Anthony Caruso) .
Meanwhile he escapes and is only helped by the twin sister ( again Yvonne De Carlo ) .
At the ending takes place the dreaded final showdown against the thug on the snowy outdoors and the protagonist realizes he must stand alone against impossible odds , nobody is willing to help him .Acceptable Western set in Old Spanish California dealing with range war and full of fights , duels , revenge and stirring drama .
Ample support cast plenty of known secondary actors who lend solid support as John Qualen, Robert Warwick, Anthony Caruso, John Dierkes, Stuart Whitman, Lon Chaney Jr , Frank DeKova , many of them usual in Western genre .
Although made in low budget by the producer Benedict Bogeaus and RKO , Radio Pictures Inc, is a very efficient film and pretty entertaining .
The picture contains colorful cinematography by John Alton( Noir cinema's usual photographer along with Nicholas Musuraka), though is necessary an urgent remastering because the copy is granulated ; furthermore atmospheric and appropriate musical score by Louis Forbes .
This quickie is finely directed by Allan Dwan , a craftsman working from the silent cinema .
Dwan directed over 1400 films , including one-reels, between his arrival in the industry (circa 1909) and his final film in 1961.
Among them some good Western as ¨ Restless breed¨, ¨The rivers edge¨,¨Cattle Queen of Montana¨, ¨Tenessee's partner¨, ¨Montana Belle¨ and ¨Silver Lode¨ his unqualified masterpiece.
Rating : 5,5 .
Passable and acceptable Western in Mexican style..
Obsession..
Two Yvonnes (De Carlo) are better than one.
That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
R.K.O. strikes gold in this dark western set somewhere in Northern California, sometime before the land was tamed by the U.S. government.
The trio of Miss De Carlo (the fiery one), Cornel Wilde and Raymond Burr spend a good chunk of the running time of this movie chasing after the five desperadoes who have slaughtered one of the Yvonnes (the demure one) and her grandparents.
Her son survives.
Barely.
In discovering the massacre at the farmhouse, Wilde's character catches a bad case of revenge and sets his sights on the perpetrators of those bad deeds.
The police--Burr and Anthony Caruso--are ineffective.
They always seem to show up a couple of heartbeats too late.
The film does nothing to dissuade someone from uttering: "you can never find a cop when you need one." The scenery is fabulous.
When Wilde marches off the lush greenery of the mountain's downslope and ascends the glacier in pursuit of the last bad guy, we know he has crossed the line into madness, He is out of control.
Lawless.
The ending is wrapped up in a satisfying manner.
But the title (Passion) bothers me.
I'm changing it to Obsession.
And I'm sticking to it..
It's hard to kill a man that has much to live for..
Passion is directed by Allan Dwann and collectively written by Beatrice Dresher, Josef Leytes and Howard Estabrook.
It stars Cornel Wilde, Yvonne De Carlo, Raymond Burr, Lon Chaney Junior, Rodolfo Acosta, Anthony Caruso and John Qualen.
Music is by Louis Forbes and cinematography by John Alton.Early California .
. .under Mexican rule.
. .the timeless mountains and eternal snows looking down on the everlasting struggle of man against man.The Dwann and Bogeaus (producer) combination once again craft a Western that breaks free of B budget restrictions to reveal a film of some entertaining substance.
This is all about man's thirst for revenge as Wilde's Juan Obreon finds his family ruthlessly snuffed out by Acosta's land hungry Salvator Sandro.
When the law fail to act upon a flimsy piece of evidence, Obreon decides to go after the Sandro gang himself.Obreon is not a ghost.Running at under 90 minutes it would have been easy for the makers to quickly get on with the revenge axis from the off, but time is afforded the Juan Obreon character so we understand why he does what he does.
For the first 30 minutes the love and family contentment surrounding Obreon shines through, and with De Carlo playing dual characters (Juan's comely wife and fiery sister-in-law), there's a bit of novelty value added into the mix.
We get snippets of how vile Sandro is, such as when we are introduced to him he is whipping his young son for a bit of "tough" love, and the surrounding vistas are impressive observers to the unfolding drama.Story set and on to revenge we go as Obreon pursues the murderers of his family while himself being pursued by two lawmen (Burr and Caruso), one of which is an old friend who isn't exactly pulling out all the stops to catch the fugitive.
It all leads to a final confrontation that is set in the snowy mountains where all interested parties convene at a remote log cabin.
Dwann has paced it neatly and created a good amount of tension whilst also showing his expertise as a choreographer of fights.Alton's photography is most appealing, be it the capturing of the California landscape, or his use of light and shadow for a ruin based sequence, Alton once again shows himself to be a most talented cinematographer who always added a kick to even the lowest of budgeted pictures.
Cast are mostly effective, with Wilde leading the way and proving his worth as a lead man who is wronged and he shows some genuine pain in his visuality.
Unfortunately the good work of the principal actors is tainted a touch by Chaney Junior once again looking out of place in a Western, with fluctuating accent as well, and Burr disappoints by never once convincing as a law man conflicted by his emotions.With revenge at its core, and plot points involving abandoned babies and cold blooded murder, it's a strong Western that ultimately survives its flaws to become another very fine Dwann/Bogeaus production.
PASSION (Allan Dwan, 1954) **1/2.
Maybe I had been spoiled a fortnight ago by the 'surprising' excellence of Dwan's SILVER LODE (1954), or perhaps I had my mind on other things while it was playing (I had just installed my brand new DVD recorder), or it is simply that the film needed a more compelling villain than Rodolfo Acosta; the fact remains that I was underwhelmed by this first viewing of PASSION.
Not that it really has a reputation to uphold or anything but, retaining the services of much of the same crew as SILVER LODE (director Dwan, producer Benedict Bogeaus, cinematographer John Alton, composer Louis Forbes, art director Van Nest Polglase, bit-part actors Stuart Whitman and Robert Warwick, etc.), one can't help but expect similarly satisfying results.
At least, the cast is quite good: Cornel Wilde, Yvonne De Carlo (in a dual role as Wilde's ladylike wife and her tomboyish twin sister!), Raymond Burr (as the Sheriff), Lon Chaney Jr.
(as a drunken brute with a really loud cackle), John Qualen (as De Carlo's grandfather) and Anthony Caruso (as Burr's suspicious colleague).
The film, set in Old California, follows a typical revenge story pattern which, unfortunately, seems not to have inspired Dwan much until the snowbound (or rather studio-bound) finale: in fact, Wilde does most of the killings barring that of Chaney and Acosta offscreen!
Ultimately, PASSION emerges as a modestly pleasing and colorful diversion that falls short of achieving its potential
especially when judging the end result against similar contemporary Western fare about obsessive odysseys of revenge like Fritz Lang's RANCHO NOTORIOUS (1952) and Henry King's THE BRAVADOS (1958)..
Quick Paced Western.
This film is a fairly quick paced western - they get to point of revenge fast within the first few minutes of the film - there is no drawn out waiting game.
The character building happens during the "revenge" so there is none of character building before the good stuff starts like you see in so many of today's films.This is a film I was introduced to via Lon Chaney Jr...
watching his westerns.
This one is a pretty good western with a great cast - a few big names.
The story gets interesting right from the start - so it drew me in after about 10 minutes of viewing and I'm not a big fan of western movies.7/10.
Range War In Old Spanish California.
Cornel Wilde's role in Passion is something that Tyrone Power might have done or Cornel himself might have done at 20th Century Fox when they were both there.
Of course had it been done at Fox, Darryl Zanuck would have had a better plotted story than RKO did.Wilde is a vaquero who has impregnated Yvonne DeCarlo and she's got a surprise for him when he returns from a roundup.
She's got a bundle of joy for him and they're not married.
But Wilde is going to do right by her.
Sad to say though DeCarlo's family is involved in a range feud with a local Don who sends riders to burn out who he considers squatters.
They kill DeCarlo and her grandfather John Qualen.
They don't get DeCarlo's twin sister, also played by DeCarlo.
She rides for Wilde and he gets there too late.
But like Gregory Peck in The Bravados and Steve McQueen in Nevada Smith, Wilde's a man with a mission.For reasons I don't understand the local law who is played by Raymond Burr won't arrest Lon Chaney, Jr. after she identifies his voice as one of the riders.
It's a pretty lame excuse for Burr not doing his duty.
Of course Wilde's duty is clear.
Later on Burr does in fact catch up with Wilde, but allows him to escape and then he tracks Wilde as Wilde tracks the bad guys.
Again his reasons are rather lame.Wilde tracks the last of the bandits to the snow clad Sierra Mountains and the cinematography here is pretty good.
RKO spent a bit more here than they normally do.There's a lot of similarity to Wilde's dashing Californio to Tyrone Power's The Mark of Zorro.
Wilde is good, but he should have had a better story..
Apassionata Von Climax???.
Although this centres around the nondescript rendering of a standby genre plot - rancher seeks vengeance on those responsible for the massacre of his family - this at least turns out to have the succinct punch of economic efficiency that was the hallmark of many an RKO western.
There's nothing much to speak of in terms of both script and acting - everyone is far too solemn, and disappointingly this does not exclude the quality thespian triumvirate of De Carlo, Burr and Chaney Jr.The real star is the colour photography (a panchromatic change of pace from a veteran cinematographer of many b/w 40s noirs) and the scenery within it; mise-en-scene courtesy of Fred-n-Ginger art deco specialist Van Nest Polglase.
Both are sufficient to sustain one's interest through to the 'revenge is just as immoral as murder' conclusion.It's exactly the sort of film that transcends Dwan's more usual 'Cattle Queen Of Montana' type dross to attract the attention of those predisposed to critical revisionism of the B-western after a sufficient passage of time, which is why I'm all the more surprised at the lack of previous user comments..
Beautifully photographed one-track-minded Western.
Made in the glory days of Technicolor, "Passion" is instantly notable for its beautiful cinematography, but it tells a familiar, one-track-minded revenge tale: they killed the main lead's family, so he proceeds to kill the killers one by one (while being pursued by the law himself).
There is not much more to the story than that, which makes for a pretty one-note story for an 80-minute film.
What gives the film some distinction is Yvonne De Carlo's tomboyish (though clearly sidelined) character, and the snowy mountains where the last part of the action takes place - a rather striking change of scenery. |
tt0816258 | Pokiri | In Hyderabad, two rival mafia gangs headed by Dubai-based don Ali Bhai, and Narayana resort to criminal activities such as extortion, murder, and coercion for various reasons. The new commissioner of police, Sayyad Mohammad Pasha Qadri, focuses on making the city a better place by working at arresting all of them. Pandu, a remorseless gangster living in Hyderabad along with his friends, is hired by Narayana and attacks Ali Bhai's henchmen. He later joins Ali Bhai's gang for monetary reasons. He falls in love with Shruti, an aerobics teacher, who rejects his advances.
Shruti lives with her widowed mother and brother and her neighbour Brahmi, a software engineer, who pesters her to marry him. A corrupt police officer named Pasupathy, who works for Ali Bhai, is attracted to Shruti. He is determined to make her his mistress, undeterred by Shruti's multiple rejections. After Pandu kills a henchman of Narayana, he is confronted by Pasupathy and is able to prevent Shruti from being molested. She meets him the next day to thank him, and Pandu introduces himself as a self-employed person who undertakes any activity for money. They develop unspoken romantic feelings for each other angering Pasupathy.
Shruti's employer, Suryanarayana, suggests that she marry the man she loves. To repel Pasupathy's advances, she meets Pandu and proposes to him. After an attack by Narayana's henchmen, who are murdered by Pandu, he reveals that he is a gangster and suggests that she might want to rethink her proposal. After Shruti distances herself from Pandu, Pasupathy frames her with a mock sexual assault by a few gangsters unbeknownst to her family and the other villagers. He intends this act to ruin her life and subsequently force her to be his mistress. Learning this, Pandu confronts Pasupathy and warns him that he will face dire consequences if he is found guilty of being involved.
Ali Bhai visits Hyderabad and assassinates Narayana. He meets Pandu to discuss the murder of a minister by blowing up a balloon. Pandu rejects this as it would involve killing innocents. At the same time as they are arguing, Qadri arrests Ali Bhai and tortures him. Ali Bhai's henchmen retaliate by filming Qadri's daughter as she is enticed into sexual activity by the minister's son, and release it to the media. They also kidnap her, forcing the police to release Ali Bhai. At the same time, Pandu manages to catch the gangsters who pretended to rape Shruti and she reconciles with him.
Qadri's daughter is sedated and reveals that an undercover police officer, whose father's name is Suryanarayana, had infiltrated the gang for some time. Ali Bhai kills Suryanarayana's son Ajay, assuming he is the informant. However, Suryanarayana reveals that Ajay was his adopted son, and that Pandu is actually Krishna Manohar I. P. S., his biological son, who had infiltrated his gang at Qadri's direction. Suryanarayana is killed and Manohar forces Pasupathy to kill Ali Bhai before he initiates his plan to set off bombs across Hyderabad.
Manohar kills Ali Bhai's henchmen one by one at Binny Mills. Ali Bhai offers Pasupathy a hefty sum to kill Manohar but his attempt fails. In a final confrontation, Manohar kills Ali Bhai by slitting his throat. Qadri's daughter is saved and when Pasupathy tries to backstab Manohar, he is shot dead by the latter who then says, "Okkasari commit ayitte, naa maata nene vinanu" (English: Once I commit myself, I'll never back off). | revenge, neo noir, murder, violence, romantic | train | wikipedia | An excellent movie.
Wow, when I first watched this movie, I was blown-away!
It's a very good thriller/comedy/romance/action etc Telugu film.Mahesh's performance is amazing and he is made for this role.
His new haircut is hot and he is so, so Hot in Pokiri!
Prakash Raj should win a award for Pokiri and Ileana is so,so beautiful and pretty.
My new favorite actress!
The comedy track was OK and I love the chemistry between Ileana and Mahesh especially the elevator and up-ma scenes.Puri did remarkably good for directing and the story!
The songs are breath-taking.
I actually like them all and I bought the soundtrack!
This is a brilliant movie and it deserves to break the Telugu movie records!
Pokiri is nowing running for 400 Days!I can't wait for the Hindi pokiri and also I didn't like the Tamil one!
So, I say that every Telugu people have to watch this movie!.
Perfect blend.
Pokiri has the perfect blend of everything an entertaining movie should have.
Powerful dialogs, foot-tapping numbers, cheeky romance, great action sequences, fantastic characterization and a mix of a perfect dose of humor interlaced throughout.
The director has also reserved some space of suspense with the plot!
All these ingredients make Pokiri a must see for the entire family and not just fans of Mahesh.
The cast matches the characters to the tee and every one contributes.
You'll probably want to watch the movie more than once just to hear Mahesh's dialogs again.
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.
Hats off to Mr. Puri Jagannath!.
One great movie!.
I think that is the best movie made so far in Tollywood.the actor and actress are very talented,the songs are excellent,the story is good and the fights are very realistic.It has won many awards.It has also rewrote 70 years of Telugu film history.It is basically about a cop Krishna Manohar (Mahesh Babu) undercover as a criminal(as Pandu),who pretends as he is a part of the mafia to catch the villains.The leader of the mafia is Ali Bhai (Prakash Raj).Meanwhile he falls in love with Shruti(Ileana D'Cruz) who is being tortured by a corrupt police officer (Ashish Vidyarthi) who happens to be a part of the mafia.If you haven't watched it yet,I would definitely recommend that you watch it as soon as possible.It is a really good movie.
Mahesh Babu's best performance till date.
A fantastic movie.
Mahesh Babu was simply brilliant.
The director Puri Jagannath has obviously put in a lot of hard work into the script of the movie.
And how he succeeded!!!!!The movie VCD/DVD is worth a buy.
All the songs of the movie, especially the title track (Jagadame) and "Deva Devuda" are good.
The action part was slightly exaggerated but thats accepatable.
Another highlight of the movie was Prakash Raj performance.
Sayaji Shinde as the DCP was also very lively and the scenes of the press conferences are very good.
The movie is slightly boring in the middle but that is made up by a thrilling finish.
The comedy track was average.Overall a must watch movie especially for PRINCE MAHESH FANS!!!!!!.
Pokiri has blown up the whole spectrum of commercial cinema once again.
This is an outright commercial film with lot of action and one liners.
Mahesh babu proved himself as future of telugu cinema with this film.The story is simple without many twists, which has helped sustain a good screenplay, followed by straight direction.
Puri Jagan completely relied on the action genre, judiciously mixing it with commercial elements.
His treatment of the dialogues too is neat and response-targeted.Suspense keeps the tempo of the film till the end.very grippy scripting by Puri Jagan.What was Shiva for Nagarjuna is going to be Pokiri for Mahesh.
After a long gap I strongly feel telugu directors are coming on top compared to their kollywood counterparts who have dominated the younger minds for a decade almost.
young directors like Nagesh Kokinoor,Shekar Kammula,Puri Jagan,VV Vinayak have brought fresh ideas to the screen irrespective of the so called mass or class elements.over all a very entertaining film.Illenia is simply sexy..
great movie but not original :(.
One great movie with wonderful dialogues, great performances, superb songs and nice screenplay but still can't digest the fact that it has been copied from some French movie.I just happened to browse through some videos in youtube and realized that the hit song devudaa is copied from Ricky Martin's song and when I was browsing related videos I found that this is a straight lift from Banlieue 13.Still all credit to director and Mahesh for such a great display.
It has raised Mahesh to next level and people see him as the only guy who can reach to the heights of Chiru.
Characterization of the lead actor is good.
Well, this is the typical Telugu movie for mass.
The highlight of the film is Mahesh's brilliant performance.
Apart from this, Prakash raj also has put in a fine effort.The director Puri tried to mix lot of bollywood movies like Abtak 56, Company...
The comedy track is horrible.
His only forte is writing the screenplay keeping hero character in his mind.Some of the dialog like "Once i am committed, i don't even listen to myself", " I don't know how much an idiot i am" are very good.Ileana looks beautiful.
This is Mahesh's another hit after Athadu.
Nothing to talk about the music..
Puri Jagganath punches the lights out.
To quote Anupam Kher "When a movie becomes a hit, everything about it is appealing".
Pokiri should be used as a reference point for utilising all the possible movie-making formula's, however in precise-doses.
If you play devil's advocate you will realise that there is no earth-shattering storyline here.
In true sense, Pokiri is an ode to the cinema of 70's & 80's.
Mahesh Babu:: Gets into the skin of the role.
His fan-following would have increased in leaps-and-bounds after Pokiri.Ilena:: Her presence was restricted to songs and providing relief moments in the storyline.Mumait Khan:: Did full justice to the item number.Can't get enough of one Prakash Raj?
Pokiri does a new BOGOF (buy-one-get-one-free).
Yes, Sayaji Shinde seems to have found his face/off.
Hold on – I almost forgot...
for a brief moment, our Prakash Raj dearest gets spawned yet again and this time its Nassar.
But thankfully the possessed moments are confined to his last breath (and the audience is spared!).Comedy track:: Innovative, but at times really hampers the narrative.
Songs are catchy and stay on with you.
Background score is impressive and elevates the screenplay.Action sequences:: Deserves a special mention.
Gruesome, gory – the split-second editing is used effectively to create high-impact shock!
Tarantino-meets-Spielberg influences are apparent.Puri Jagganath:: If Pokiri has satiated your appetite to make your mark and make your presence felt...
Needless to say, the movie bears streaks of powerhouse of talent that lie within you.
Your product has created a milestone by numbers but on a creative level I am sure you would like to add lot more feathers on your cap.
Avoid the pitfall of turning into Y2K version of K.
Raghavendra Rao-cum-Dasari Narayan Rao-cum-B Gopal..
Mahesh Babu's Best.
Pokiri is like a saving grace for Mahesh Babu.
If you want to see one film which will define an actor, Pokiri is the film for Mahesh.
It's got action, humor and emotions that all count.
His stunts, style and enigma sprinkle magic on the viewers.
But, Puri Jagannath also gives us a good lineup of stars that include Prakash Raj, Nasser, Ashish Vidyarthi and Ileana.
In films like these, the female lead is supposed to be a stupid female who has nothing else to do other than romance the hero.
But, Ileana's character has a story for herself and she plays her role suavely.
The film also offers extensive story lines to several other characters.
Prakash Raj explains how famous he is; Ashish Vidyarthi sees a connection between his wife and concubine; Nasser has a will of his own, and Mahesh incredibly fits in as the guy for the job.
With Mani Sharma's crackling soundtrack, Pokiri is a fine action flick which you can watch over and over.
Dole Dole anybody?.
Puri Jaganaths Best Movie and Best Movie in 2006.
puri jagantah direction is very beautiful in this movie and i can say that the way the story goes and ends is very amazing....i can say that this is the best action and thriller movie.
Mahesh Babu acting is good and comedy in the movie is superb.ilaians is a new girl and her acting in movie is good.i think any one watches this movie feels great and no waste of money in the end.the rating i give to this movie is8 out of 10 mahesh babus best film ever he has been acted from so many movies.Every body can be watch this movie.Please watch this in telugu only don't watch it tamil remake wont be good.
Kiraak.
Mindblowing movie, as usual babu always lands with a blockbuster performance.
Don't judge a movie by its records!.
One might get the feeling that the movie is once in a lifetime event after seeing the hype and hoopla surrounding the release and the subsequent record-breaking run it had at the box office.
But the movie sadly fails to deliver on many counts - tight story line, memorable music and, for me the essential ingredient of any entertaining movie, a good comedy track.Though it's all too well known that we are not sticklers for realism in our movies, we don't complain a spoonful of it!
I mean, an undercover cop going berserk, in his imitation of a Mongol barbarian, with the poor rowdy folks was a bit over the top, to put it mildly.
Probably Mahesh Babu was stretching the macho-ism thread little too thin.
I still feel his 'Okkadu' is way better than 'Athadu' or 'Pokiri'.
Ileana's is a fresh face on the horizon with a neatly chiseled body to boot!
Acting is probably not her forte, but who cares, in an out and out hero-focused movie.
It's probably due to the sheer number of films he does, but Prakash Raj is getting too predictable, either in a mean, calculating villain's character or in a caring, compassionate father's character.The movie has its positives too - slick photography and exaggerating fight sequences that appeal to the large masses.
And it also tries to shock the prudes by showing glimpses of BDSM and snorting!
An entertaining three hours but falls short of the status of a legend, its records notwithstanding..
Slick action.
Being bad has never been better.
And suddenly gangster and mafia movies are the flavor.
In a sense, even Mahesh Babu's previous movie Athadu was one.In Pokiri, the hero is introduced to us a ruthless baddie, part of the huge underbelly of mafia.
By the time we come to the denouement, there is much twist and turn.
If you like some racy action, fun, glamor and love, then Pokiri would be your kind of film.Pandu (Mahesh) is a remorseless mafia man.
He is part of a gang that is headed by Ali Bhai (Prakash Raj), the Dubai-based don.
Pandu falls in love with the aerobics teacher Sruthi (Ileana).
She also falls for him but he is put off by his bad ways.
Pandu has a fall- out with Ali Bhai while Sruthi is harassed by a venal cop (Asish Vidyarthi).
The finale is about how Pandu (there is a suspense to his role) outwits Ali and how he gets the hand of Sruthi.The tale is a mixture of Hollywood and Desi hits.Mahesh revels in an author-backed role.
His insouciance and cultivated elegance add to the polish of the character.
He is decidedly first rate in the role of a patented baddie.
The director seems to have created his character with lot of care.
Even his looks are very cool and comfy.
Ileana, looking gorgeous, is also very cute and likable.
She has moved up in acting to after Devadasu.
Her exchanges with Mahesh and the natural chemistry that flow between them is a highlight of the movie.Prakash Raj as Ali is typical.
But some of his mannerisms are predictable.
So too is Asish Vidyarthi.
But it is Shayaji Shinde, as a honest cop, who is the standout.
Nasser is also convincing.
The same cannot be said of the comedy track.Mani Sharma's music is also another plus.
His re-recording gives the right backdrop.
Shyam K Naidu's camera work is another asset to the movie.Puri Jagannadh has got it right as a scriptwriter.
He has worked around the story with dexterity.
He has also got the feel of the movie right.
Though there are elements that may put you off (too much action and extra glamor), Puri Jagannadh surely knows the pulse of the audience.
And in Mahesh he has got an able ally.Pokiri looks like it will work at the box office..
One of the better action films of Mahesh Babu and best direction of Puri Jagannadh.
Superstar Mahesh Babu who made his promising debut in Raja Kumarudu (1999), which was a super hit at the box office.
However after his debut film, Mahesh's career turned out to be a big failure.
Through he is a big actor in Telugu film industry.
He gives few flops, averages and disasters after hits till 2000-2004 including the flops Yuvaraju (2000), Vamsi (2000), Takkari Donga (2002) the disasters Bobby (2002), Nijam (2003), Naani (2004) and the average Arjun (2004).
Except Murari (2001), Okkadu (2003) and Athadu (2005), which all are blockbusters in Mahesh's career.
Mahesh Babu is back in another big action film Pokiri, which was released in 2006.
It was a blockbuster at the box office.
This movie gave Mahesh Babu in an action hero image, the film also creating new records and changed the definition of action heroes and action films in Telugu cinema in 2000's except in the 80's and 90's action movies which was badly handled, neither had cheesy stunts in there.Pokiri (2006) is a typical action film which revolves around the story of a ruthless and fearless gangster Pandu, who works anything for his money.
He lives in Hyderabad with his friends, they are also gangsters like Pandu.
In Hyderabad, they are two mafia gangs headed by Dubai-based don Ali Bhai, and Narayana resort to criminal activities such as extortion, murder, and coercion for various reasons.
The new commissioner of police, Sayyad Mohammad Pasha Qadri, focuses on making the city a better place by working at arresting all of them.
Pandu later joins Ali Bhai's gang for monetary reasons.
He falls in love with Shruti, an aerobics teacher.
After Pandu falls in love with her, Shruti starting to fall in love with him at first sight.
Shruti proposes to Pandu and thereafter Ali Bhai's gang arrived, the fight begins.
After the fight sequence, It has some violence and Shruti shocked to see Pandu beating all these people, she was scared to Pandu, he reveals his identity.
And at the end of the film, there is a big twist.
Watch the movie to find out, is Pandu taking revenge to his father's death because Mani Bhai killed him or is Shruti reunite with Pandu?
Is what follows the rest of the story.
Mahesh Babu as Pandu delivers a stellar performance after Nijam and Athadu.
He carried out his role with his shoulders, his acting was excellent.
His fights, his dances, his intensity to his eyes, his body languages and his anger (despite he's aggressive when he's shouting), he looks good in action and his serious character was good.
Mahesh looks different compared to his previous films, in 1999-2004 he has a short hair and in 2006- 2007 he has a long hair.
His long hairstyle suits him perfect.
Ileana D'Cruz as Shruti did a very good job in her innocent role.
He is the eye candy heroine of the film.
Her chemistry and her romance with Mahesh was convincing and sizzling.
Her smile, her innocence and her acting was good.
Prakash Raj repeats his villain act, he excels his villainous character as Mani Bhai in the film.
His dialogues, his mannerism, his menacing, his acting in his own part was awesome.
He was perfect in his negative role.
The rest of the actors did a good job and provide good support.
One of the big highlight of the film is the action sequences.
When it comes to action, Mahesh nailed it.
Despite the violence, the action scenes was very well choreographed and very well executed.
Especially with the sound effects, Mahesh beats some bad guys is so brutal and violent.
But it looks realistic and not over the top as the other Telugu action movies in 80's and 90's.
Direction by Puri Jagannadh was very well shot, this is his best work till date.
Not only did he redefined the action films but he even change the style of action films and action sequences.
The other highlight of the film is the dialogue delivery of Mahesh Babu, his punch dialogues was very powerful and strong.
They are many famous dialogues in this film, but my favorite line of Mahesh is " OKKASARI COMMIT AYITHE, NAA MAATA NENE VINANU" which was superb and its already becomes popular and famous dialogues in Tollywood.
The cinematography was very well shot and captured with beautiful locations.
The music by Mani Sharma was good.
The songs "Gala Gala, Dole Dole, Choddodhantuna are my personal favorite.
Mahesh Intro's song Jagadame was catchy and the item song Ippatikinka is also good and catchy.
Devuda song was also good, Mahesh Babu dance very well and Ileana dances too well.
Overall, Pokiri is a typical mass Masala Entertainer film with a good story, good screenplay with great direction and great action (despite the violence, I don't mind if it's violent).
To all the Mahesh Babu fans, I would recommend to you all, watch this movie only if you truly a big Mahesh Babu fans or action lovers.
Mahesh-Ileana-Puri Jagannadh combination works very well. |
tt0889671 | Trumbo | Dalton Trumbo is a screenwriter whose talent places him among the elite of Hollywood. However, his active membership in the Communist Party of the USA draws the contempt of staunchly anti-Soviet entertainment-industry figures such as columnist Hedda Hopper and actor John Wayne.
Trumbo is one of 10 screenwriters subpoenaed to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) regarding alleged Communist propaganda in Hollywood films. They refuse to directly answer questions, confident that a liberal majority on the Supreme Court will overturn the convictions for contempt of Congress. Trumbo's friend Edward G. Robinson, who supports the cause, sells the Portrait of Père Tanguy to raise money for their legal defense fund. The unexpected deaths of Justices Wiley Rutledge and Frank Murphy ruin Trumbo's plan to appeal to the Supreme Court. In 1950, Trumbo serves 11 months in Federal Correctional Institution in Ashland, Kentucky.
As the Hollywood Blacklist expands to exclude more communists and communist sympathizers from working in the industry, Trumbo and his comrades are abandoned by Robinson and producer Buddy Ross, who disavow them to protect their careers. Trumbo is released from prison, but he remains blacklisted and his finances – and family life – become increasingly strained. He resorts to giving the screenplay for Roman Holiday to his friend Ian McLellan Hunter, to take credit and a share of the money, and eventually the Academy Award for Best Story. Selling his idyllic lakeside home and moving to a house in the city, he goes to work as a pseudonymous screenwriter for the low-budget King Brothers Productions, also farming out the writing of B-movie screenplays to fellow blacklisted writers. He puts his wife Cleo and teenage children to work as his support staff, adding to domestic conflict. King Brothers' film The Brave One, an original story by Trumbo under a pseudonym, receives an Academy Award he cannot claim. His blacklisted friend Arlen Hird dies from cancer, destitute, but an attempt by Hopper's allies to intimidate the head of King Brothers to fire Trumbo fails completely.
Over time, industry suspicion of Trumbo's ghostwriting develops, but he is careful not to confirm it. In 1960, actor Kirk Douglas recruits him to write the screenplay for his epic film Spartacus, and director Otto Preminger recruits him to script Exodus; both publicly credit Trumbo as the screenwriter despite Hopper's futile efforts to intimidate Douglas into dropping Trumbo. By 1960, the effectiveness of the Blacklist has been broken to the point where newly elected US President John F. Kennedy publicly endorses Spartacus and Trumbo and others are able to begin rebuilding their careers. Ten years later, finally receiving his due accolades from Hollywood, Trumbo speaks about how the Blacklist victimized them all: those who stood by their principles and lost their jobs, and also those who compromised their principles to keep them. | romantic, depressing, home movie | train | wikipedia | null |
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