Rich Clinton Greene (James Coburn) hosts a party on his yacht one year after his wife was killed by a mystery driver. His friends, each with their own reason to curry favor with arrogant Greene, tolerate his game's dark nature. Then things become really dark.
With A list actors working long hours on an overcrowded boat, production became understandably troubled. Raquel Welch’s behavior was called out by James Mason who called her “the most selfish, ill-mannered, inconsiderate actress that I have ever had the displeasure of working with”. Bad weather and a terrorist bomb threat didn’t help matters.
Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim used to host murder mystery parties for their Hollywood friends and it was suggested they write a script. Many of the characters are based on real people, lovingly I presume. I believe Richard Benjamin is playing Perkins.
Despite the troubled production, The Last of Sheila is a clever, compelling drama and excellent mystery. It’s a smart film that will keep you guessing until the end. AMRU 4.5.
"Give me a glass of water and a couple of lesbians."
When attending the funeral of a woman he knew, a bible selling con man (Ryan O’Neal) agrees to take the deceased’s daughter (Tatum O’Neal) to her aunt in Missouri. Is she also his daughter? Well, Tatum is Ryan’s. They have the same jaw.
Ostensibly about the adventures they share, the film is actually about their relationship. How they begin to trust, appreciate, and help each other. Perhaps something Ryan failed to do with Tatum. Allegedly when Ryan learned that Tatum was nominated for an Oscar and he wasn’t, he hit her. Neither parent attended the ceremony when Tatum won and she would never be nominated again. Hollywood is a tough town.
John Hillerman of Magnum PI fame plays a double role. He also appeared in Peter Bogdanovich’s What’s Up Doc? and The Last Picture Show. We are also treated to a great early performance from Madeline Kahn as Trixie Delight, a floozie grifter who sets her sights on Ryan’s Moses Pray. Subtle performances were not her forte and here she is deliciously over the top.
Based on the book Addie Pray, Bogdanovich changed the title to Paper Moon and included a throw-away line to justify it. He asked Orson Welles what he thought of this title and Welles replied: "That title is so good, you shouldn't even make the picture, just release the title!" Welles was so helpful. Paper Moon is an amusing character study with excellent performances. AMRU 4.
The sweet, innocent Regan (Linda Blair) starts exhibiting strange behavior, so mom (Ellen Burstyn) takes her to a doctor. They do invasive tests but can’t find anything wrong, so they give up and tell her to take her to a psychiatrist. Soon the psychiatrists give up and tell her to take her to an exorcist. After initially claiming that there is no such thing as exorcists, the priest gives in and performs the ritual. Things don’t go well.
Many films have apocryphal stories of extreme audience reactions. People diving out of the way of an oncoming train in The Great Train Robbery plus William Castle’s many legal waiver and fitness test gimmicks. On a similar note, people did not riot when they heard Wells’ radio performance of War of the Worlds. Here with The Exorcist, we have the real deal. Legit paramedics were occasionally called for hysterical viewers. Castle, I’m sure, was jealous. Before the disturbing horror scenes later in the film is a realistic angiograph scene which I am sure convinced many to not undergo the procedure.
The version I saw was titled “The Version You’ve Never Seen” so now that I’ve seen it, I don’t know what to think. This version includes an inverted crab walk scene that had been cut from the original. The Exorcist is a slow burn, even dragging a bit. But remember, before this film the general public did not know what an exorcism was. Nor did they know what they were about to experience, so we must forgive modern audiences with an “Get on with it, already!” attitude. Myself included. When we get to the Evil, The Exorcist does not disappoint.
Mom turns to Father Karras to exorcise her daughter. He cautions that this could make things worse, but there really isn’t anything worse. So Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) is called in to lead. The forty three year old von Sydow wore heavy old-age makeup to take on this role. He’s ninety now and still working. Some may remember him from The Force Awakens or as the Three-Eyed Raven back before the series tanked. Old friend Lee J. Cobb played a detective watching the action mostly from the outside.
The Exorcist is rightly an icon of horror. It's a well written, well acted, very original shocker. Production was very troubled. The shoot was a form of hell for the actors, but the result was unquestionable. Maybe they beat us over the head with the "Regan is sweet and innocent" message, but that's forgivable. Don't care why demon is doing this, that's ok. you aren't subjected to exposition. Do care? The hints are in there. AMRU 4.
Delos offers fantasy vacations at three themed destinations: Medieval World, Roman World, and Westworld. Or protagonist chooses the third, where guests can participate in fun activities like bar fights, drinking terrible whiskey, and being threatened with murder. Oh, yea, and there are prostitutes. Can’t forget them. Guess what? Things go haywire. Familiar with the old 'super fancy amusement park for the filthy rich breaks down and people die' trope? Writer/director Michael Crichton sure was.
But give the man credit. In this high concept if somewhat lackluster film are the seeds of Halloween (1978) and The Terminator (1984), not to mention Jurassic Park. This was also the first ever feature to use computer graphics and maybe the first to use a computer virus as a plot point.
Our story follows beta male Peter (Richard Benjamin) as he visits the exclusive resort with his hunky friend John (Josh Brolin’s dad). Recently divorced Peter has a hard time getting into the spirit of things until he tries out Nurse Chapel’s brothel (one night in Westworld makes a hard man humble). Then the attractions begin to malfunction. But before total chaos reigns, the technical team decides to upgrade the nasty gunslinger character (Yul Brynner) with super powers. Seemed reasonable at the time.
Not a bad film overall, but not without flaws. It’s a little slow at times and there are many technical plot holes one must suspend. It’s real legacy are the high concept ideas. There was a short lived TV series called Beyond Westworld that tanked, and Arnold even was in talks to do a remake when governorship saved us from that fate. Never saw the HBO series. Is it any good? AMRU 3.
“I must confess I find it difficult to believe in a disease of machinery”
While cruising around their town, a young couple (Opie Cunningham and Shirley Feeney) come to terms with college and the direction of their relationship, a geek tries to be cool and score with a hot blond, a dork (Matt Hooper) becomes a criminal while searching for the perfect girl (Chrissy Snow), a thug tries to score with an under-aged girl (Julie Cooper), and an out-of-towner (Han Solo) wants to be top dog, set to a classic soundtrack hosted by Wolfman Jack.
I would go further into the details of the story, but really there isn’t much. This is simply a story of young people doing what young people so often do, and because of that it has a very authentic feel that is not often found. In this way alone it reminds me of Clerks (1994).
Happy Days, which premiered the following year, was not based on or directly inspired by American Graffiti as many people think. A year and a half earlier there was an episode of Love, American Style with a segment called “Love and Happy Days” which featured the Cunningham family and included Ron Howard, Marion Ross, and Anson Williams (Potsie). Fonzie didn’t exist yet. It was a failed TV pilot that nobody wanted to take a chance on, until this nostalgic piece of yesteryear became a box office smash. I remember seeing that rerun of that Love, American Style while Happy Days was still on the air (I’m very old, but you should have known that) and was completely confused by what I was watching.
Likely because of the Happy Days link this film was associated with the 1950’s but it was in fact set in 1962, ten years (or so) before it was released. The Wolfman got a huge career boost from his appearance and I have a memory of hearing his syndicated radio show circa 1980. My dad said it sounded like Wolfman Jack. I said it was, and he replied it couldn’t be. He was on the radio when he was a kid. In fact both my dad and he were born in the same year.
American Graffiti succeeds because it didn’t try to do, or to be too much. It was what it was, and the chord it struck was pitch perfect. It was a moment in time and comes across very sincere. That sounds easy to do, but it is not. The ash bins of Hollywood are filled with cliched and contrived teen comedies. Very watchable, very enjoyable, and worthwhile, even if you weren’t around in the 1960’s. Or 1990’s. AMRU 4.
I leave not with a quote but a YouTube video. It's creator later dismissed it as little more than the rantings of a fanboy, but I felt it summed up the film and it's success very well. Besides, that's more than I even aspire to do.
A health food store operator (Woody Allen) goes in for a routine operation and wakes out of cryogenic sleep two hundred years later. Here he finds himself in a dystopian future and involved with the underground trying to overthrow the dear leader. No, it's not that serious.
TCM presenter Robert Osborne said Allen was inspired by silent comedies like Buster Keaton, but I saw way more Chaplin and Marx Brothers here than stoneface. But Allen differed in a more fundamental way from the early comedians. Even when at a physical and economic disadvantage, Keaton, Chaplin, or even the Stooges would control the action. They were active participants in their own predicament. In a real way, they were in charge. Not so with Allen's Miles Monroe. He stumbles around and is directly controlled by the other actors. Everything goes wrong and everything is out of his control. We laugh (if we do) at him bumbling.
Some funny parts and kinda interesting, and it features Diane Keaton back when that was a good thing. But based on it's reputation, it was a disappointment. Silly, slapstick, a few good lines, but sometimes annoying. If this is the best of Allen's early comedies, I don't need to see the rest. AMRU 2.5.
"This stuff tastes awful. I could make a fortune selling it in my health food store."
F for Fake is Orson Welles' video essay about Elmyr de Hory, a notorious art forger, who successfully passed off his copies as authentic. Along the way, it is discovered that de Hory's chief accuser, writer Clifford Irving, is himself a fraud, having faked documents to pass off a fraudulent biography of recluse Howard Hughes. This fake within a fake spins off more tales, like Welles' own War of the Worlds trick.
Welles' so-called free-form documentary is irritatingly herky-jerky. The fat man looks foolish in the black cape and hat, and appears too much to enjoy filming his girlfriend 26 years his junior and acting all mysterious. The overall theme appears to be that people are not what they seem, art is not what it seems, and Orson Welles is not what he seems.
Even still, there is something compelling about the Wellesian style. Here is the Orson I remember from my youth. Self-important, fat, drunk, and rambling, but somehow charming. It's hard to describe. He tells his story, many stories in fact, in a very non-linear fashion. In the end you learn something about the art world and the people that make it up, and your are entertained. While I have misgivings about the overall viewing experience, it is quite different, and maybe that's what trips me up somewhat.
Now I will point you to an episode of one of my favorite YouTube channels, certainly my favorite on the topic of cinema:
Tony Zhou of Every Frame a Painting absolutely loves F for Fake, and I love Every Frame a Painting. He reminds me how little I know, and how few good films I have seen. It's both wonderful and disheartening. So if he loves F for Fake, I suppose I shouldn't be quite so hasty. AMRU 3.5.
Sergeant Howie from the mainland (Edward Woodward) receives an anonymous letter that a child on Summerisle has gone missing and nobody appears to care. He flies in to investigate.
At first the locals deny the girls existence, then when he finds out she does, he is told she has died. And the mystery deepens from there. But what concerns Howie most is the strange, unchristian behavior of the locals. Christopher Lee plays Lord Summerisle in a silly wig and sideburns, and Britt Ekland is hot dancing naked.
The main point of conflict here is Howie's tightly wound Christian beliefs against the pre-Christian sensibilities of the island folk. His authority is clearly limited to the investigation at hand but his judgement of the people rises above that.
Every now and again, I am pointed to The Wicker Man as a seminal work of horror. IMdb gives it high marks, and if you listen to the actors, they declare it one of the greats. Cinfantastique magazine called it the Citizen Kane of horror, which is more than a stretch. I don't count Kane as the greatest film ever, but it's flawless movie making was remarkable. There were more than a few flaws in Wicker. Lucky for it, the story was more interesting.
But maybe the movie would have been better had the original negatives not been immediately destroyed and the film cut to ribbons upon release. Apparently, British Lion was sold during the production of the movie and the new owners hated the film. Much has been restored, but there are apparently still missing scenes and significant film and audio quality issues.
I think what interests people most, apart from the delightful nudity, is it's ambiguity. Who exactly is the villain? The pagan island folk or the moralistic cop? Maybe a matter of opinion. Also, this may be the first film to accurately depict pre-christian culture and ceremonies.
The Citizen Kane of nothing, but still a movie very much worth watching. AMRU 3.5. Britt Ekland was hot.
"Sergeant Howie: Your lordship seems strangely... unconcerned. Lord Summerisle: Well I'm confident your suspicions are wrong, Sergeant. We don't commit murder here. We're a deeply religious people. Sergeant Howie: Religious? With ruined churches, no ministers, no priests... and children dancing naked! Lord Summerisle: They do love their divinity lessons. Sergeant Howie: [outraged] But they are... a-are NAKED! Lord Summerisle: Naturally! It's much too dangerous to jump through fire with their clothes on!"
Movies before the year of my birth is such an arbitrary date.
It's the 1930's Chicago, and Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) is a young, hunky grifter. While doing a con with James Earl Jones' father, they make a big score. The owner of that score is a big time New York mobster he decides to pay them a visit. Exit senior Jones. Hooker wants pay-back. And not to be killed. He needs help.
Hooker enlists the help of Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman). He is wise and jaded. Together they concoct a sting. It has something to do with horse racing. What follows is two hours of the construction and operation of an elaborate scam, the details of which we learn as we go.
A movie like this, a very dense two hours nine, requires some endurance from younger viewers. My 15 year old gave up on it after a half, so I paused it and made him watch the rest later. He liked it a lot. What I liked was the amazing supporting cast. Robert Shaw (Jaws), Ray Walston (Martian and Fast Times), Charles Durning (just about everything), Eileen Brennan (Murder by Death) to name a few. Even Harold Gould, who was on Soap, when Jody was in the hospital having a sex change, (I just finished watching the entire series - a big moment in my life).
Great script, perfect story (that is, it makes complete sense from every character's perspective), top notch acting, and excellent sets and production. I can't say enough about it. Seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, plus three nods. AMRU 4.5.
Hooker: He's not as tough as he thinks.
Gondorff: Neither are we.
Lonnegan: Your boss is quite a card player, Mr. Kelly; how does he do it?
Back in the summer of 1974 I was seven. Advertised was a horror film called "It's Alive!", about an evil, deformed newborn baby. The trailers terrified me. Last weekend, I watched it.
Funny thing about Netflix. I find I'm not watching movies that fit my blog criteria. The old BBC version of the Hitch Hikers Guide, episodes of BS, and various newer movies and documentaries. Good stuff, but not my Blog's scope. It's Alive is only somewhat close.
Old ugly couple have an evil baby that kills the entire delivery room (except mom), then escapes. Mom wants her baby back, dad wants it killed. In fact, HE wants to be the one to kill it. Incompetent police are investigating.
Random lady is killed, milkman is killed, a cop or two bites it. Monster baby goes back to Mom and Dad's house and dad pops a cap in it. Now it's real angry.
Skip to storm tunnels. Dad finds baby and falls in love with it. Police surround him and threaten to shoot. He tosses the baby, or it jumps, and the cops kill it. I don't know. I was so damn bored with this piece of trash I didn't really care.
There was a sequel, there was a remake. I won't be watching either. The trailer was way scarier than the movie. This is the closest I can get to the trailer I remember. Unfunny, not scary, boring, unappealing. It's Alive sucked. I could say I'm glad I watched it in a cathartic sense, but I won't. AMRU 2. I'm being generous.
