Heavy Metal (1981)

Heavy Metal is an anthology of seven loosely connected stories inspired by the fantasy magazine of the same name. I was too young to see the film at release, but there was a great buzz about it with the older teens. I didn’t give it much thought in the years since until my son heard about it. Damn, there was a lot of nudity.

The stories are connected by a glowing bowling ball of death. The individual stories had very different tones and animation styles because they had different writers and animators. Different enough that the narrative link occasionally seemed a bit forced. SCTV alums Joe Flaherty, John Candy, Eugene Levy, and Harold Ramis lend their vocal talents.

The story that interested my son was “Captain Sternn”, about a Zapp Brannigan type character facing a tribunal. He employs a controversial defense. Having watched it, I found it very familiar. Heavy Metal had some TV airplay early on, so I may have seen parts of it then. Music rights made it difficult to find until very recently.

More culturally influential than high cinema, but Heavy Metal did hold my interest. The opening scene with a car in space definitely influenced Musk’s Tesla in orbit, and do I even need to mention South Park? Damn, there was a lot of nudity. AMRU 3.

The Great Escape (1963)

The Nazi's had a problem with certain prisoners of war always finding a way to escape. Their solution was to put their biggest offenders all in one camp. An escape proof camp. The prisoners plan an escape. One might even call it a 'great' escape.

The movie is based on a 1950 book detailing actual events. The characters were combined or fictionalized, so you won't learn about the real people. That's what books are for, I presume. Americans were added for box office reasons.

Officers saw it as their duty to attempt to escape from prison camps, if for no other reason than to divert Nazi resources away from the war. A third front, as it were.

The assembled cast is quite impressive. James Garner, Steve McQueen, and Richard Attenborough head a cast that also includes James Coburn (in a terrible Australian accent), Charles Bronson, and Donald Pleasence, among others. The film divides time between them quite well.

When reviewing Stalag 17 I noted the parallels to the TV show Hogan's Heroes. This film, however, appears to be it's true inspiration. Garner is totally Hogan.

Despite its almost three hour runtime, The Great Escape does not drag. The many details of the escape plan and side stories are fascinating. AMRU 4.