tracyfigueira Reviews

Diamonds for Breakfast (1968)

amusing trifle

[7/10 · 19 July 2009]

It's been a long time since I've seen this film, but I watched it a couple of times back in the eighties and thought it was quite funny. Marcello Mastrioanni plays an aristocratic playboy who's descended from the Romanovs. He thinks the Russian Crown Jewels are rightfully his, so when they arrive in London for a museum display he decides to steal them. He recruits a posse of beautiful girls to help him pull of the heist, including his current girl friend Rita Tusingham. "Diamonds for Breakfast" is fairly typical of the kind of light-hearted comedy-caper film popular in the late 60s and capitalizes on the whole Swinging London mystique with its playboy hero and its bevy of young lovelies. It doesn't have a lot of depth but it's fun.

White Comanche (1968)

beam me up, Scotty!

[5/10 · 8 June 2009]

God must really like William Shatner. How else can you explain a career like his? Shatner has probably given more bad performances than any actor in history, has been in more turkeys than you can name, yet somehow he keeps adding success to success. This bizarre Spanish-made Western plays like a bad Star Trek episode. Remember the one where a transporter accident divided Kirk into his good and evil selves? This is like that, except in this version the good Kirk is white and the bad Kirk is Indian. Anyone smell a hint of racism here? Where's Kevin Costner when you need him? Still, "White Comanche" is great fun, with a good performance from Joseph Cotten as the sheriff and plenty of the rugged, two-fisted action fans of "Star Trek" and Spaghetti Westerns have come to expect. Sure, it's not "Dances With Wolves," but how many films are?

The Sex Killer (1965)

it is what it is

[5/10 · 3 June 2009]

This obscure 1967 sexploitation film is so low budget it doesn't have any acting credits at all. It's almost as if no one wanted his or her name associated with such a project. That said, "The Sex Killer" is not a bad little film. Shot in black-and-white on the mean streets of New York City and using live sound (which occasionally renders dialogue unintelligible) it follows the adventures of a shy, sexually repressed nebbish named Tony who works at a mannequin warehouse. He develops a fixation on female mannequins that spirals out of control, leading first to voyeurism, then murder and necrophilia. As serial killer case studies go, this one's not so bad. It lacks the gore and vivid color of the best Italian giallo films, but the women are all beautiful and there's plenty of nudity. The murders are all strangulations and not particularly graphic. This film is realistic in portraying its serial killer as a nondescript, pathetic figure with a low-paying job, little education, and poor social skills, as most serial killers are.

The Zodiac Killer (1971)

two sickos for the price of one

[5/10 · 3 June 2009]

"The Zodiac Killer" is a gritty, low-budget, semidocumentary account of the notorious serial killer who terrorized California in the 1960s and who was never apprehended. The film introduces us to two archetypal "angry white men": the shy, sexually repressed postman (this before "disgrunted postal worker" became a catch phrase) and a balding, bitter, misogynistic truck driver locked in a nasty custody dispute with his ex. While not particularly well made, the film holds the viewer's interest and manages to create some suspense. Like many B movies it sheds light on aspects of the human condition too often ignored by Hollywood A movies. For once we have a film where everyone isn't good-looking, and we have a maniac who preys on both men and women instead of just going after hot chicks. Of course much of it is fictional or at least highly speculative, since we still don't know the killer's identity. "The Zodiac Killer" is available from Something Weird Video as part of its "Sharpshooter Triple Feature" along with "The Sex Killer" and "Zero In and Scream," two highly entertaining sexploitation films that compare favorably with a lot of the stuff Hollywood makes these days.

Yongary, Monster from the Deep (1967)

why this movie was made

[5/10 · 3 June 2009]

To understand this movie, you have to know something about Korean history. The Koreans are still smarting after thirty-five years of Japanese occupation (1910-1945), which ended with Japan's defeat in World War II. The Japanese treated the Koreans much the same way the Russians treated the Poles or the British treated the Irish. Even today Japanese movies and comic books are illegal in Korea. Thus, perhaps not surprisingly, most Korean movies are calculated imitations of popular Japanese genres--give the home folks their own version of Japanese movies so they won't long for forbidden fruit. "Yongary" may seem to us a poor "Godzilla" rip-off, but to Korean audiences that haven't seen a Japanese monster movie it's undoubtedly much more exciting. Judged strictly on its own merits, "Yongary" is about par for the Japanese kaiju movies of its era--neither better nor worse.

Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973)

the world's greatest evildoer

[10/10 · 26 May 2009]

It seems only fitting that Sir Alec Guinness, the world's greatest actor, was chosen to play Adolf Hitler, the world's greatest evildoer. Although Hitler was only fifty six when he died, he managed in those 56 years to do more evil than the rest of humanity has in 200,000 years, or however long we've been on the planet. This movie has moments of absurdist black comedy worthy of Samuel Beckett--indeed, Hitler in his bunker was probably the inspiration for the mad tyrant Hamm in Beckett's "Endgame," who also lived in an underground bunker. The frequent playing of Johann Strauss's jaunty "Fledermaus" overture provides ironic comment on the on screen action. Guinness was at a low point in his career when this film was made--his glory days of the 1940s and 1950s were long gone, and his comeback role as Obi Wan Kenobi in "Star Wars" was still in the future--but he gives a commanding performance and is never less than believable as the mad dictator. The mostly Italian-British cast has a number of interesting performances, particularly Adolfo Celi (Number One in "Thunderball") as General Krebs, the one relatively sane person in the bunker, and Diane Cilento as the female aviator Hanna Reich, who is clearly in love with Hitler and jealous of Eva Braun (the lovely Doris Kunstmann). Excellent as history lesson and entertainment.

Bloody Pit of Horror (1965)

so it's not Shakespeare . . .

[5/10 · 9 May 2009]

This movie has everything: beautiful women, great set design, garish color photography, cool music, and quite possibly the worse acting performance in history by the late great Mickey Hargitay, the legendary Hungarian body builder who was the husband of Jayne Mansfield and the father of Mariska Hargitay ("Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.") He plays a head case obsessed with the "harmony" of his "perfect body," and fears the "contamination" of "inferior beings," especially women. When a group of cover girls, their photographer, writer, editor, and crew break into his castle in Italy to take cover pictures for upcoming paperbacks, he assumes the persona of "The Crimson Executioner," a centuries old serial killer executed in 1648. The ensuing torture scenes are pretty intense, but there's little actual blood and gore. My favorite scene was the girl tied to the giant spider web. Although allegedly based on the writings of the Marquis de Sade, "Bloody Pit of Horror" is actually quite tame by the standards of today's torture porn and not to be confused with more graphic (and disturbing) efforts like Pasolini's "Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom." "Bloody Pit of Horror" is good if not exactly clean fun for lovers of cheesy horror, scantily clad models, and really bad acting. The production values are about par for an early "Doctor Who" episode, and the fight-scenes are straight out of the old "Batman" series. More proof that the Italians are the world's greatest purveyors of crap cinema.

The Last Waltz (1978)

the last hurrah

[10/10 · 4 May 2009]

Back before disco, back before punk, back before MTV, music didn't suck. At least not like it does today. Youngsters who cut their teeth on Britney Spears wouldn't know a good tune if it jumped out and clubbed them on their heads. I know I sound like an old geezer, but bear with me. The Band was one of my two favorite rock 'n' roll groups of all time (the other is the Doors) and their farewell concert, staged at San Francisco's Winterland on Thanksgiving, 1976, may well have been the definitive moment of rock 'n' roll history, much more than Woodstock, Altamount, or even Elvis's first appearance on Ed Sullivan. Probably no musicians in history received as much hatred as The Band, who became a lightning rod for folk music purists who blamed them for Bob Dylan's defection. By 1976, however, the early 60s folk revival was little more than a footnote in music history. Although Dylan's set closed the show, he and The Band shared the spotlight with a veritable Who's Who of music greats: Neil Young, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton, Doctor John, Neil Diamond (I normally cannot stand him--I loved his set here!), Muddy Waters, and the man who gave The Band their start, rockabilly great Ronnie Hawkins (The Band started out as the Hawks). The film contains several musical highlights not part of the actual concert, which were filmed on a soundstage later (Emmylou Harris, the Staple Family). Director Martin Scorcese's backstage interviews are humorous and nostalgic but leave unsaid the friction and inner turmoil that led to The Band's break-up. This is a great film with great music. What more needs to be said?

Will Penny (1967)

the ultimate western

[10/10 · 4 May 2009]

Forget "Unforgiven." "Will Penny" is the most intelligent, well-written, gripping, and thought-provoking western ever made. It slipped past everyone's radar in 1968; it wasn't what they were looking for from Charlton Heston. Chuck made his bones playing mythic, larger than life figures (Moses, Ben Hur, John the Baptist, El Cid); he often seemed perched on some lofty pedestal far from common humanity. In "Will Penny," for perhaps the only time in his career, he plays an average human being. Will Penny is an aging, illiterate cowhand, a working stiff in an unforgiving, savage frontier who knows his days are numbered. When he is forced to winter in a snowed-in cabin with a pioneer woman (the wonderful Joan Hackett) and her son, he finds love for the first time in his life, but the tender moments are short-lived as he must fight off the evil "Preacher Quinn," one of the creepiest villains in screen history, played with demonic ferocity by Donald Pleasence (Bruce Dern is one of his sons). "Will Penny" is one of the most realistic westerns I have ever seen, depicting as few have the day-to-day grind of the cowboy's life, the workaday reality of life in the Old West. The cast boasts a whole posse of western regulars--Ben Johnson, Slim Pickens, Anthony Zerbe--as well as TV's Lee Majors ("The Big Valley," "The Six Million Dollar Man") in his first big screen role. Directed by Tom Gries, it boasts cinematography by Lucien Ballard, Sam Peckinpah's frequent collaborator. A real treasure.

The Last Valley (1971)

the horror of religious strife

[9/10 · 29 April 2009]

Jonathan Swift wrote "We have just enough religion to make us hate one another, but not enough religion to make us love one another." Swift, an Anglican minister, was writing scarcely a century after the Thirty Years' War, one of the bloodiest in European history before Napoleon. The war started out as a feud between Catholics and Protestants in what is now the Czech Republic but spread like a wildfire to engulf most of Europe. Germany was hardest hit. Although it began as a religious struggle it essentially became a free-for-all with all the great European powers jockeying for position--Spain, Austria, France, Sweden, Denmark, Prussia--while marauding bands of mercenaries made life hell for an already impoverished peasantry. This film brings to life a conflict most Americans have never heard of. It's surprisingly graphic for its PG rating; it bears comparison to another saga of warfare in Early Modern Europe, Paul Verhoeven's "Flesh and Blood." Written and directed by James Clavell ("Shogun," "King Rat," "The Great Escape") it shows just how horrible both Protestants and Catholics were during this period; ironically, one of the few sympathetic characters is a practicing Satanist (Florinda Bolkan). Once you get past Michael Caine's German accent and Omar Sharif's blond hair-dye, the whole cast is superb. Caine plays a mercenary chief persuaded to spare a tranquil Alpine village from plunder by Sharif, who plays his usual wounded idealist, the voice of sanity in a world gone mad. Particularly noteworthy among the international cast is Hollywood veteran Arthur O'Connell in a surprisingly convincing portrayal of a superstitious, mean-spirited farmer. The movie grippingly demonstrates the horrors of ethnic cleansing and religious conflict, with both sides committing unspeakable acts. The battle scenes are rousing, and there's a love story between Caine and the local witch (Bolkan). This is a movie that makes you think, but also leaves you with a queer feeling in the pit of your stomach. A must for action fans and history buffs.

Guys and Dolls (1955)

bright, campy fun

[9/10 · 28 April 2009]

At least something good came out of Damon Runyon's misguided attempt to sentimentalize the Mafia. "Guys and Dolls," the seemingly indestructible stage musical, was captured on film in 1955 by Joseph L. Mankiewicz ("All About Eve") in a colorful, enjoyable movie that featured an all-star cast including Vivian Blaine (from the original Broadway show), Jean Simmons (whose character bears an odd resemblance to Audrey Hepburn in "Roman Holiday") and two of the all-time great leading men, Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando, both of whom had recently won Oscars for Best Supporting Actor ("From Here To Eternity") and Best Actor ("On the Waterfront") and were on the top of their game. One listen to Brando singing "Luck Be a Lady Tonight" speaks volumes about where the early Dylan got his voice. Stubby Kaye steals the show as Nicely Nicely Johnson, who brings down the house with "Sit Down You're Rocking The Boat." The ubiquitous Sheldon Leonard adds yet another page to his rogue's gallery of screen gangsters. The film has a bright, cartoonish look, anticipating the Pop Art of the early 1960s. The characters speak in a stylized patois, apparently based on Yiddish idioms. Although the film's social attitudes and gender roles are dated, it's all great fun, and even the gentle kidding of the Salvation Army is harmless and reflects no real animosity toward organized religion. Just seeing Sinatra and Brando in the same film is reason enough to watch this movie, but it has lots of other attractions to offer during its 149 minutes.

Fantasia (1940)

does anybody really like this film?

[5/10 · 24 April 2009]

Everybody pays lip service to "Fantasia" as one of the greatest films of all time, but does anyone really like it? Most of the people I've talked to admit to being bored and depressed by it. It's safe to say that "Fantasia" did for music appreciation what "Song of the South" did for race relations. The one part of the film almost everybody likes is "The Sorceror's Apprentice," which ironically was the last really good film Disney made featuring Mickey Mouse before the Great White Gloved One was put out to pasture as a commercial spokesman for the Disney entertainment empire. Balletomanes have probably never forgiven the dancing hippos in Ponchielli's "Dance of the Hours"; the last time I watched it I became dizzy and threw up. Even "The Blair Witch Project" didn't effect me that way. "Fantasia" was wickedly parodied by Chuck Jones in "What's Opera, Doc?" which is a far more entertaining film.

The World's Greatest Sinner (1962)

genius or insanity?

[8/10 · 18 April 2009]

Like so much avant-garde art, this extremely odd cult film from actor/director Timothy Carey leaves you wondering: did I just witness an extremely significant work of art, or was it all a big put-on? One part of me wants to classify it with the works of Bunuel and Godard, another wants to lump it with "Glen or Glenda?" and "Manos: The Hands of Fate." Its low budget quality, grainy black-and-white photography, and general amateurishness of execution reminds me of other cult classics such as "Night of the Living Dead." The story plays out as almost a medieval morality play. Carey plays a bored insurance salesman who becomes a cult guru, preaching a doctrine suspiciously reminiscent of Friedrich Nietzsche. At the end, however, he's defeated, recognizing the power of the One True God. For all its seeming iconoclasm, "The World's Greatest Sinner" is written from a surprisingly orthodox Christian point of view, reaffirming the faith it seems to question.

Barabbas (1961)

the Higher Criticism in a nutshell

[10/10 · 16 April 2009]

Many Bible scholars are of the opinion that the story of Barabbas, the thief who was freed in place of Jesus, never happened. There is no record of such a custom being observed in Jerusalem or anywhere else for that matter, the name Barabbas makes no sense (it simply means "son of the father" in Aramaic), and the whole point of the story seems to be part of the Evangelists' attempts to place the whole blame for the death of Jesus on the Jews while Pontius Pilate comes off smelling like a rose (the early Christians were eager to reassure the Roman authorities that they were harmless, and that Jesus' execution at the hands of a Roman governor was all a misunderstanding). I do not necessarily agree with these arguments myself, but I think they need to be considered. "Barabbas" is a troubling film on many levels, not the least of which is its apparent endorsement of the ancient idea of collective Jewish guilt for the Crucifixion. Perhaps this was unavoidable in an Italian film. Barabbas in many ways seems a symbol for the Jewish people, the "Wandering Jew" who can never die because he must bear witness to the Saviour. Barabbas (played in a typically larger-than-life performance by Anthony Quinn) is not necessarily the Anti-Christ, but he does come across as a sort of Counter-Christ whose life parallels Jesus' in haunting and often unexpected ways. For instance his death on the cross: his final words, commending himself to the darkness. Barabbas is on a decades-long search for meaning, seeking to understand why he was spared instead of Jesus, but at every step of the way he gets it wrong. When he does espouse Christianity he makes matters worse by playing into the hands of the Romans seeking to brand the new faith as terrorism. "Barabbas" has obvious similarities with other Biblical and gladiator epics--"Spartacus," "Ben Hur," "Gladiator," but stands on its own merits. It benefits from superb widescreen photography and bold, dramatic lighting reminiscent of Caravaggio and Rembrandt, and capable direction from action-film veteran Richard Fleischer ("Tora, Tora, Tora.") Arthur Kennedy has an interesting cameo as Pontius Pilate, here seen as a rather long-winded bureaucrat. The Christian characters all come across as insufferable know-it-alls only too ready to rub Barabbas' nose in the dirt, and the lovely Silvana Mangano, as Rachel, is little more than a feminine stand-in for Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr. A thought-provoking film that raises more questions than it answers.

Watch Out, We're Mad (1974)

Italy has rednecks!

[9/10 · 14 April 2009]

If you've always wanted to go to Italy but are intimidated by its art and culture, rest assured: it's not all 600-year old churches and opera. Italy has rednecks, as illustrated by this mind-boggling Terence Hill/Bud Spencer comedy that has to be seen to be believed! "Watch Out, We're Mad" is a gloriously silly action farce about two garage mechanics who win a dune buggy in a race, only to see it vandalized by the local mob(Mafia or Camorra?) The resulting silliness is truly inspired, reminding one of the low-brow British comedy/variety shows formerly syndicated on late-night TV ("The Two Ronnies," "Benny Hill.") Paty Shepherd is lovely as Terence's romantic interest, John Sharp brings a discordant note as the mob boss with a Cockney accent (in Italy?) and the always interesting Donald Pleasence is a mad German psychiatrist who eggs on the mob boss to become more evil. Great fun for children of all ages.

Kelly's Heroes (1970)

war for fun and profit

[9/10 · 11 April 2009]

Before there was "Saving Private Ryan" there was "Kelly's Heroes." In both movies a sensitive but tough commander is asked to risk his men's lives on a mission that makes no sense whatsoever. But instead of having to bring back Matt Damon safe to his mama, Sergeant Big Joe (Telly Savalas) is asked to rob a bank in a provincial French town, which may or may not have $16 million in Nazi gold. Clint Eastwood is Kelly, the brainy operator who uncovers the trail of the gold, and he's aided and abetted by Sergeant Crapgame (Don Rickles), a behind-the-scenes black market dealer, and Oddball (Donald Sutherland), a spaced-out tank commander. This film is cheerfully anachronistic in projecting sixties style, attitude, and cynicism onto the 1940s. Every man is thoroughly unpatriotic, disillusioned with the system, and out for himself. Is this really World War II, or is it Vietnam? Sutherland's character is a hippie before hippies were invented. That having been said, let me assure you I love this movie. It is a total joy from beginning to end. Capitalizing off the success of "The Dirty Dozen," it seeks to recreate the formula with some of the same actors (Savalas, Sutherland). The film is chock-full of familiar faces from film and TV: Carroll O'Connor, Gavin McLeod, and even the ubiquitous Harry Dean Stanton (billed as Dean Stanton). Shot in Yugoslavia, the film successfully exploits Eastwood's iconic status in spaghetti westerns: the scene where Eastwood, Savalas, and Sutherland confront the SS tank commander who is the only thing standing between them and the gold is a witty send-off of Sergio Leone. "Kelly's Heroes" is a near-perfect mixture of comedy, action, and male bonding. Perhaps the ultimate redneck movie.

The Sound of Music (1965)

is it just me, or does Julie Andrews look sexy in an apron?

[11 April 2009]

This is one of my favorite movies of all time, which is strange, because as a rule I avoid musicals. Happy, peppy people singing and dancing and clicking their heels with joy--give me a break! However, there are exceptions. I must be the only straight man with both this movie and "The Wizard of Oz" in his video library. There is a reason: Julie Andrews. She had that knack (rare these days) of being sexy in a wholesome way. "The Sound of Music" plays like an English-language version of the popular German/Swiss/Austrian genre the "Heimatfilm" (homeland film), generally wholesome family dramas set in the Alpine region full of blond, blue-eyed Frauleins, lonely goatherds, and lots of yodeling. Since Salzburg is the home town of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, it seems more plausible for people to spontaneously break into song and dance here than it does in a New York ghetto ("West Side Story") or an oppressed Jewish village in czarist Russia ("Fiddler on the Roof.") There are dark clouds on the horizon, however, and as the Anschluss approaches, Captain von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) of the defunct Austrian Navy (Austria is landlocked now, but until World War I their empire included coastal regions of Italy and Croatia) must decide where to take his stand. He makes his sentiments clear by ripping in half a Swastika flag and flees with his family. This is an immensely enjoyable film filled with beautiful music and great choreography. It's corny, sappy, and shamefully manipulative--but what's wrong with that?

North to Alaska (1960)

the duke in love

[9/10 · 4 April 2009]

John Wayne was always a fighter, never a lover, so on the surface it seems strange to see him cast opposite ultrachic French supermodel Capucine (real name Germaine Lefevre) in this bawdy action comedy. In fact they had great chemistry: aside from the great Maureen O'Hara, the lovely Frenchwoman (who went on to star in such swinging sixties classics as the original "Pink Panther") was one of the few leading ladies to hold her own against the Duke. The plot bears an odd resemblance to "Pretty Woman": after his best friend George (a surprisingly funny Stewart Granger) is jilted by his fiancée, Alaska prospector Sam McCord (Wayne) seeks to cheer him up by hiring a high class call girl (Capucine) to take her place. Not surprisingly, Sam falls in love with her and, after about three dozen expertly choreographed fight scenes--all played strictly for laughs, with little real peril involved--Wayne gets the girl! Expertly directed by the legendary Henry Hathaway, who directed Wayne in his Oscar-winning vehicle "True Grit," "North to Alaska" has everything: action, laughter, romance, gun fights, barroom brawls, a classic knock-down drag-out in a muddy street, and even a song by Fabian (George's brother Billy!) As often in his career, Wayne plays a character with a streak of paranoia, though in this case it's halfway justified--a smarmy confidence trickster (a brilliant Ernie Kovacs) is out to jump his claims, and there are the usual shenanigans before right--and might--triumph. Oh, and there's an Old English Sheepdog named Clancey, who jumps into bed with Capucine. The whole cast is excellent, even Fabian's not too annoying, and there are amusing cameos by Keenan Wynn, Mickey Shaughnessy, Kathleen Freeman, and Richard Deacon. Country great Johnny Horton sings the theme song. An excellent choice.

Gorgo (1961)

don't mess with a mother

[6/10 · 3 April 2009]

This has always been one of my favorite giant monster-on-the-loose movies. It plays as sort of a cross between "Free Willy," "Jurassic Park," and "Dumbo" and has a strong environmental message (sort of). The crew of an oil tanker in the North Sea capture a living dinosaur and sell him to a circus in London. Surprise, surprise! Turns out the dino is only a baby and there's a mama dinosaur somewhere in the North Sea ready to dish out some serious hurt! Never mind that dinosaurs were land creatures, in the movies they all returned to the sea where they still live today, waiting to pounce on unsuspecting wayfarers. This dino has a legitimate reason for being steamed with humanity: they stole her baby, and we all know what happens when you mess with a mother. She pulls a Godzilla on London, then returns to the sea with Baby. A happy ending of sorts, at least for dinosaur lovers. There actually was a species of dino called the Gorgosaur, which was a kind of miniature T-Rex. Whether the writers of this movie were aware of that is unclear. The cast includes the London-based American actor William Sylvester, best remembered as Doctor Heywood Floyd of "2001: A Space Odyssey."

Winter of Frozen Dreams (2009)

who's afraid of Thora Birch?

[5/10 · 3 April 2009]

This thoroughly mediocre movie was a lot less fun than I thought it would be, and it left me with a bad aftertaste. Telling the unbelievable but apparently true story of a Black Widow/Lolita (Thora Birch) who seduces men, then murders them for their insurance money, it played like a bush-league rip-off of "Fargo." "Winter of Frozen Dreams" is memorable, if at all, for Keith Carradine's eccentric detective, a cross between Columbo and McCloud, and for Thora Birch's performance. The former child star and indie princess of such films as "American Beauty" and "Ghost World" has blossomed into a woman of devastating beauty, sensuality, and intelligence, and she dominated every frame she was in. Her character, Barbara Hoffmann, still languishes in prison serving a life sentence for murder. She supposedly had an IQ of 145--genius level--but you couldn't tell from this movie. All the characters seemed pretty stupid, her included. The film left some doubt as to her guilt. Was the aging detective just looking to make one spectacular bust before riding off into the sunset? That was just one of many questions this provocative but ultimately unsatisfying film left unanswered.

The Blue Max (1966)

spectacular aerial photography

[7/10 · 15 November 2008]

This is the only World War I movie I have seen that told the story from the German point of view. It's 1918, the new Soviet regime in Russia has signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany, freeing the German troops hitherto tied down on the Eastern front for combat in the West. If they can smash the British and French before America has time to intervene, they will have won the war. Of course we know they didn't, but this movie chronicles the last desperate months before the Armistice, when Germans thought they still had a chance. George Peppard is brilliant as Bruno Stachel, a common infantry soldier who somehow gets into flight school and joins an elite fighter squadron. He has a major chip on his shoulder over his working class origins and doesn't fit in well with his fellow fighter jocks, most of whom come from the old-money, blue blood Prussian aristocracy. He sets his sights on earning the Blue Max, a medal only given for downing twenty or more planes, and soon sizes up top gun Willy von Heidemann (Jeremy Kemp) as his main rival both in the air and in bed, where he sets his sights on Katy (Ursula Andress), the gorgeous countess who just happens to be married to Willy's uncle, the General (James Mason). Karl-Michael Vogler plays the squadron leader who despises Bruno for his ruthlessness and disregard for the rules of warfare, but the General favors Stachel, who's just the kind of hero a war-weary German public needs. Stachel's fortunes rise as Germany's decline, until his tragic hubris and arrogance lead to a fiery downfall worthy of Wagner. Fueled by Jerry Goldsmith's Straussian score, "The Blue Angel" aptly blends romance, political intrigue, and action-adventure with some of the most brilliant aerial combat footage ever staged. The whole cast is excellent; alone of the cast Peppard doesn't even try to speak with a German accent, but somehow his defiant Americanese seems just right for his plebeian character. Shot in Ireland, the film paints a revealing picture of a civilization on the verge of collapse and shows how personal ambition and jealousy can often get in the way of patriotism and military discipline. Great fun and a good history lesson.

Nana (1934)

worth seeing . . . once

[4/10 · 14 November 2008]

This film has gone down in history as one of the great turkeys of all time, and to a certain extent that reputation is justified. Anna Sten, the émigré Russian starlet Samuel Goldwyn tried to build up as the next Garbo, was a beautiful woman and her English diction wasn't as bad as it's made to be. The problem is that there was no way Hollywood in 1934 could do justice to Emile Zola's scathing account of sexual debauchery in Second Empire Paris. The nudity is gone, most of the lovers are gone, the lesbian relationship with Satin (Mae Clarke) is barely hinted at. Nana, as played by Sten, is a far more sympathetic character than she is in the book. She shoots herself rather than rotting to death from smallpox (a euphemism for syphilis?) No mention is made of her illegitimate child or the path of death and destruction she leaves in her wake. The film is an interesting if dated curio, worth watching at least once, but proof that not every film from Hollywood's "Golden Age" is a gem.

My Daughter's Secret Life (2001 TV Movie)

high school for hotties

[8/10 · 22 September 2008]

This 2001 Canadian made-for-TV movie has been airing on the Lifetime Movie Network under the title "My Daughter's Secret Life," leading one to expect another cheesy, moralistic "Moment of Truth" type chick flick. "Lucky Girl" is anything but. It's a flawed but relentlessly absorbing character study that keeps the suspense flowing until the end. There's literally not a dull moment. The exquisite Elisha Cuthbert, Canada's answer to Marilyn Monroe, gives a strong performance as a high school honors student who develops an addiction to gambling. The movie is anything but a case study, though: it's almost a worse-case scenario of just how much trouble teenage girls are capable of getting into, almost a cross between "thirteen" and "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me." Though not as troubled, Cuthbert's character does bear a certain resemblance to the late lamented Laura Palmer as played by Sheryl Lee. She's a gorgeous high school girl who goes to a school where all the girls are gorgeous . . . literally! There's not a single ugly girl or even a respectable plain Jane on site! This is a high school where everybody is rich, good-looking, and spends all their money on football pools and poker. Besides Ms. Cuthbert, my favorite was Charlotte Sullivan as the decadent rich girl whose older brother becomes the heroine's partner in crime. All Cuthbert wants to do is earn money for a post-graduation trip to Europe with her BFF, but what starts with scratch-offs rapidly escalates into football pools, poker, after-hour casinos run by Asian gangsters featuring truly bad lounge singers, drugs, pornography, and the burglarizing of her own house. Cuthbert and Sherry Miller (as her mom) won the Canadian equivalent of Emmys, but the whole cast is excellent. This film is so melodramatic and over-the-top as to defy plausibility, but its relentlessly grim tone at least has the virtue of making viewers feel better about their own boring lives. As teenage bad-girl movies go, this one is one of the best, and is miles above such pathetic Hollywood drivel as "Freeway," despite the latter having Reese Witherspoon as its star.

Red River (1948)

my favorite John Wayne movie

[10/10 · 20 September 2008]

It's hard to believe that director Howard Hawks had never made a western before 1948's "Red River," which started a long and profitable collaboration with John Wayne. The film has an assurance and flow one expects from a master, with beautiful black-and-white photography, a great Dmitri Tiomkin soundtrack (what's a western without Dmitri Tiomkin), majestic rolling scenery, lots of cattle, horses, and an all-star cast. Wayne has always been at his best playing characters with a touch of paranoia, and he gives one of his greatest (if not THE greatest) performances as hard-bitten cattle baron Tom Dunson a man who will stop at nothing, not even murder, to accomplish an apparently impossible task: leading the first cattle-drive from cash-poor, post-Civil War Texas, to the North, which had plenty of money but a shortage of beef. Wayne shares the spotlight with a young Montgomery Clift as his adopted son, a man with an equally quick temper but a stronger moral compass, and Walter Brennan has never been better as Wayne's sidekick. John Ireland drifts in and out of the film as gunfighter Cherry Valance, whose projected showdown with Clift never materializes (instead he's gunned down by the Duke!) The film falters in the middle, with an improbable love interest added by Joanna Dru, but makes up for it with a brilliant ending (in which Miss Dru plays a key role). This film packs just as much a wallop today as it did sixty years ago. An unforgettable film.

Paths of Glory (1957)

the greatest film ever made

[10/10 · 20 September 2008]

Now that "The Dark Knight" has toppled "The Godfather" from the #1 spot in the IMDb Top 250, only to be toppled in turn by "The Shawshank Redemption," might I be permitted to nominate this shamefully overlooked Stanley Kubrick classic from 1957? Made before he had perfected his unique signature, it has a raw, semidocumentary, almost cinema verite quality that distinguishes it from the more distant, formal films of Kubrick's maturity. Just compare it to "Full Metal Jacket," made exactly thirty years later. The film is short (less than an hour and a half) and there's no soundtrack aside from the relentless drum rolls. Kirk Douglas, whom I have often found hammy in other films, is perfect here as Colonel Dax, the sole voice of moral rectitude in a tale of double dealing, casual cruelty and Machiavellian intrigue. He's well-matched by his opponents: the deceptively suave Adolphe Menjou (the only Frenchman in the film) and the deranged Charles Macready. Interestingly, Menjou was one of Hollywood's premiere red-baiters, and played a key role in driving Chaplin from America. He plays a similar character here, and one wonders if he appreciated the irony. The black-and-white photography adds to the film's no-frills atmosphere. This film was considered so inflammatory that Kubrick was forbidden to shoot in France, and instead it was filmed in Germany, with German policemen doubling as French soldiers. "Paths of Glory" was a commercial failure, but it led to Kubrick's second collaboration with Douglas, 1960's "Spartacus," which gave Kubrick the box-office clout he needed to make his later masterpieces. Without this film there might never have been a "2001: A Space Odyssey" or "The Shining."