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Month: October 2023

Mad Bomber, The (1973)

Mad Bomber, The (1973)

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“I want to catch this son-of-a-bitch before he blows up Los Angeles!”

Synopsis:
A police detective (Vince Edwards) in Los Angeles attempts to find a serial rapist (Neville Brand) who may know the identity of an insane bomber (Chuck Connors).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Detectives and Private Eyes
  • Los Angeles
  • Neville Brand Films
  • Terrorists

Review:
Writer-director Bert I. Gordon (working from a story by Marc Behm) helmed this low-budget vigilante-psycho thriller set across the diverse streets of Los Angeles, featuring the potential of harm at literally every corner.

Bespectacled Connors is about as unhinged as you can imagine — but he’s in good company with sicko Brand, whose wife (Ilona Wilson) is at least somewhat in league with his perversions.

Given that obsessed Lieutenant Geronimo Minneli (Edwards) is on their tails:

… we’re guaranteed an action-packed and violence-filled adventure (which we get). Numerous sequences fall squarely within exploitation realm — be forewarned about several highly disturbing scenes — but to Gordon’s credit, one stays curious throughout about how things will eventually resolve.

Of special note: Edwards uses fancy facial “recognition” technology to craft an impressively effective visage of his suspect.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

  • Good use of location shooting throughout Los Angeles

Must See?
No, though it’s worth a one-time look.

Links:

My Favorite Year (1982)

My Favorite Year (1982)

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“Stone, you can either watch me or join me: one of them is more fun.”

Synopsis:
In 1954, a comedy sketch writer (Mark Linn-Baker) is charged with watching over an alcoholic former matinee star (Peter O’Toole) who is due to make a special appearance on a variety show alongside “King Kaiser” (Joseph Bologna).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Actors and Actresses
  • Alcoholism and Drug Addiction
  • Cameron Mitchell Films
  • Comedy
  • Has-Beens
  • Jessica Harper Films
  • Peter O’Toole Films
  • Television

Response to Peary’s Review:
Peary writes that this “original, pleasing, spiritedly written (by Norman Steinberg and Dennis Palumbo) and acted comedy set in 1954” features “uneven” direction by Richard Benjamin (who “has a particularly tough time with tone changes”), and wastes Jessica Harper playing “a perky, dull girl… instead of one of her kooky characters.”

However, he argues (and I agree) that “both O’Toole and Joseph Bologna (as the [Sid] Caesar-like Kaiser) are terrific.”

He points out that the “film shows how the brilliant, artistic, graceful O’Toole and the stupid, strong, instinctively hilarious Bologna — top stars from different eras — share the limelight and become unbeatable partners on live television,” thus proving “there is room in show business for great talents of all types.” He adds that “the dialogues between the show’s writers”:

… “and the scene in which O’Toole meets Linn-Baker’s unusual mother (Lainie Kazan) and uncle (Lou Jacobi) are highlights.”

I was overall disappointed with this film, which does indeed run inconsistently and seems to be missing a key opportunity. However, there are enough positive elements — including O’Toole’s no-holds-barred performance; Bologna as Kaiser (his interactions with real-life crime boss Karl Rojeck [Cameron Mitchell] are hilariously bold):

… and a delightful show-stopping ending — to recommend it for one-time viewing. Also of special note: O’Toole dancing with a smitten woman (Gloria Stuart) out celebrating her anniversary at a club.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

  • Peter O’Toole as Alan Swann
  • Joseph Bologna as King Kaiser

Must See?
Yes, once, for O’Toole’s performance, and for the satisfying ending.

Categories

  • Noteworthy Performance(s)
  • Oscar Winner or Nominee

Links:

Blue Collar (1978)

Blue Collar (1978)

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“Maybe we should’ve robbed a liquor store like everybody else.”

Synopsis:
When a trio of in-debt auto workers — Zeke (Richard Pryor), Smokey (Yaphet Kotto), and Jerry (Harvey Keitel) — conspire to rob the safe of their corrupt union, unexpected consequences quickly ensue.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Ed Begley Jr. Films
  • Harvey Keitel Films
  • Heists
  • Labor Movement
  • Paul Schrader Films
  • Political Corruption
  • Richard Pryor Films

Response to Peary’s Review:
Peary writes that this “excellent, unusual film by Paul Schrader, which he wrote with brother Leonard” at first “threatens to become a comedy, perhaps like 9 to 5, in which three exploited employees ‘screw’ the boss.”

An early scene taking place at Pryor’s apartment — when he receives an evening visit from an IRS agent (Leonard Gaines), and quickly rallies with his wife (Chip Fields) to “produce” the additional children he has claimed on his returns:

… is definitely written with a comedic undertone, though the circumstances behind it (constant, unrelenting financial pressures) are all-too-real;” and “when the union gets serious, the comedy disappears.”

Peary notes that this “cult film is strongly written, provocative, [and] extremely well acted” — and for the time the movie was made, “Schrader’s to be commended for having two of his three leads be black.”

To that end, all three lead actors turn in impressive, believable performances — though I’ll admit it was hard to watch a scene in which the men gather at Kotto’s apartment for a coke-and-sex-fueled party, given that both Pryor and Keitel have lied to their sweet wives (Fields and Luca Saroyan) about going out.

I get it that the men want to let loose and relieve some tension, given the extreme frustrations of their work — but their wives don’t deserve either deception or STDs. With that caveat aside, the script is heavy-hitting in a refreshing way: we understand the massive corruption at play across all systems (including the union) right away, and how challenging these men’s choices are. There’s a particularly gruesome (and effective) murder scene that shifts the film into horror-flick territory — and things get even more harrowing from there. This isn’t an easy film to watch, but it’s a powerful and important one.

Note: Watch for Ed Begley, Jr. in a small role as a fellow employee and friend.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

  • Yaphet Kotto as Smokey
  • Harvey Keitel as Jerry
  • Richard Pryor as Zeke
  • Fine location cinematography

Must See?
Yes, as a still-powerful neo-realist thriller.

Categories

  • Good Show

Links:

Walking Tall (1973)

Walking Tall (1973)

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“Nothing wrong with guns – in the right hands.”

Synopsis:
The wife (Elizabeth Hartman) of a wrestler-turned-sheriff (Joe Don Baker) is dismayed when she sees him taking on increasingly corrupt townsfolk, at the risk of his own and his family’s safety.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Corruption
  • Elizabeth Hartman Films
  • Phil Karlson Films
  • Sheriffs and Marshalls
  • Vigilantes

Response to Peary’s Review:
As Peary writes, “this once controversial box-office smash is a highly fictionalized account of real-life Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser (Joe Don Baker), a former wrestler who used club (literally) and fang tactics to clean up crime and corruption.”

He notes that “Phil Karlson’s hard-hitting action film is a throwback to old-style westerns in which well-intentioned lawmen never had to make excuses for ringing up a high body count each day,” and he points out “it also recalls Karlson’s Phenix City Story, in which a crusading lawyer cleans up corruption, and vigilante-with-badges urban melodramas like The Big Heat and Dirty Harry.”

He asserts that while “initially, leftist viewers [at the time] joined the rednecks in applauding Pusser’s efforts, figuring he was a populist figure who hated corrupt authority figures as much as they,” “in retrospect this film helped start the unfortunate Hollywood trend in which thuggish lawmen who shoot first and ask questions later are presented as appealing ‘rebels’ because they’re willing to risk their jobs and promotions by circumventing the law to make our streets safer.” He points out that “nowhere to be found are the moral citizens who take a stand against vigilante justice,” and notes that this “modestly budgeted film is crude, brutal, and manipulative.”

I agree with Peary’s overall review: given that most people these days won’t have heard of Pusser, the biopic relevance of this picture is much lower, and we’re left instead with simply an action-packed vigilante flick set in the south, with plenty of violence and a sad ending (not to mention a ridiculous-looking face-cast on Baker that I just can’t imagine being a real thing).

With that said, fans of Hartman — who died by suicide 14 years later, at the age of 43 — will want to check this out for her appearance as a wife who knows her husband is playing with fire, but can’t do much to stop him.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

  • Good use of Tennessee location shooting

Must See?
Nope; you can skip this one.

Links:

Macon County Line (1974)

Macon County Line (1974)

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“For these two weeks, we’re just gonna be out cattin’ around and havin’ us a ball.”

Synopsis:
Before enlisting in the army, a pair of brothers — Chris (Alan Vint) and Wayne (Jesse Vint) — pick up a hitchhiker (Cheryl Waters) and meet a sheriff (Max Baer, Jr.) who accidentally involves them in a vendetta with two dangerous drifters.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Mistaken or Hidden Identities
  • Road Trip
  • Sheriffs and Marshalls

Response to Peary’s Review:
As Peary notes, Max Baer, Jr. — primarily known as “gentle but stupid Jethro on The Beverly Hillbillies” — “wrote, produced, and played a key role in this strange, violent, low-budget film that became a surprise box-office smash and cult favorite.”

Peary asserts that this is “not a bad film,” adding that the “acting is convincing, and the script presents an original view of the militarist (fascist) mentality (as represented by Baer) and takes a strong stance against it.” Without giving away too much of the plot (which unfolds with reasonable suspense), I would agree with Peary that the “ending is like something from a horror movie.”

The majority of the film is spent following the Vints on their aborted road trip:

… which includes meeting up with an odd, suspicious gas station owner (Geoffrey Lewis) along the way:

… and, of course, some romance (along with plenty of violence). The film’s primary interest, however, is showing what happens when worlds collide, identities are mistaken, and guns (introduced early on) continue to play an outsized role.

Note: This film is known for being one of a spate of pictures at the time purportedly based on a real story, but actually purely fictional.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

  • Daniel Lacambre’s cinematography

Must See?
No, unless you’re curious, given its cult status and popularity.

Links:

Playtime (1967)

Playtime (1967)

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“Can’t a guy have a little fun?”

Synopsis:
As a group of American tourists descend upon Paris, Mr. Hulot (Jacques Tati) makes his way through the increasingly modernized and mechanized city.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Comedy
  • Jacques Tati Films

Review:
Jacques Tati’s fourth feature-length film — after Jour de Fete (1949), Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (1953), and Mon Oncle (1958) — was this enormously budgeted spectacle (the most expensive made in France to that date) which lost money and bankrupted Tati, yet remains a personal favorite for many. Because I’m not a Tati fan, I’ll cite extensively from DVD Savant, who in his review seems similarly attempting to make sense of a film which perhaps he appreciates more than enjoys. He notes:

“Playtime is as subversive and important as anything in the French New Wave. It’s a completely uncompromised, lavishly filmed vision as personal as anything by David Lean or Stanley Kubrick. Since it’s so clearly aimed at its own inspiration and not the box office, Tati grows in the mind as one of the most pure cinema artists that ever was. It’s indescribable, baffling, and definitely not a mass-audience movie, yet it was shot in 70mm!”

In terms of plot — what plot? Who needs one? Writing in his essay for Criterion, David Cairns refers to this film’s plot as “slender to the point of deniability.”

Meanwhile, DVD Savant explains:

“The shots are always very wide and open to the possibilities of action and development from any direction. Hulot is the ostensible main subject, but he’s as randomly observed as anyone else in the show.”

“Droll humor is the most we get: very often there’s nothing funny about what’s going on and Savant is sure that many a 1967 audience felt they were the victims of a colossal private joke. Movies that are private jokes, almost always become known by their other name, failures, and whether or not Playtime succeeds will depend on your inclination toward humor that is more conceptual than overt, and droller than droll. There are mistaken-identity gags, frustration gags, the works, but it all exists within this ‘you have to find it for yourself’ world that will either delight the viewer or bore him silly.”

He adds, “In Playtime Tati shows us our world in transition, without making it into a dysfunctional nightmare, as in Godard’s Science Fiction comic book of a movie [Alphaville (1965)]. People adapt, every place that has happiness is magical, and the film ends with another crowded airport. This one transforms into a giant mechanized whimsical carousel.”

For an enjoyable primer on visual gags in Tati’s films, click here.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

  • Truly impressive sets

Must See?
No, though most film fanatics will naturally be very curious to check it out — and probably should, once. Listed as a film with Historical Relevance and a Cult Movie in the back of Peary’s book.

(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die)

Links:

Heat (1972)

Heat (1972)

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“I didn’t complain when you said you wanted to be a lesbian, did I?”

Synopsis:
An aging actress (Sylvia Miles) with a dysfunctional daughter (Andrea Feldman) becomes smitten with a young former-child-star (Joe Dallesandro) living in her daughter’s apartment complex — but can she get him work in Hollywood?

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Actors and Actresses
  • Aspiring Stars
  • Hollywood
  • May-December Romance
  • Paul Morrissey Films
  • Sylvia Miles Films

Review:
The third film in Paul Morrissey’s Andy-Warhol “trilogy” — after Flesh (1968) and Trash (1970) — was this low-grade send-up of Sunset Boulevard (1950), complete with an ending shot on a pool and a gun. Miles — Oscar-nominated for her supporting performance in Midnight Cowboy (1969) — is perfectly cast here as an aging diva with attachment issues:

… and Dallesandro once again plays — well, himself, as handsome, casual, and pan-sexually appealing as ever.

Andrea Farnsworth — memorable in Trash (1970) as “the rich girl” with the funny voice (her voice is equally strange here) — plays one of the most obnoxious grown-daughters in cinematic history:

— a whiny ingrate who would come close to winning the worst-mother-in-the-world award (she carries her baby around in a bag and gives him sedatives so she can head out). (Sadly, Farnsworth committed suicide just before this film premiered.) Perhaps having the most fun with their performance is Pat Ast as Lydia the landlady, who isn’t afraid to show her roaring appetite for Dallesandro.

Unfortunately, the semi-improvised screenplay isn’t very engaging or clever, leaving us simply waiting for any reasonably juicy zingers (“Is that a way to bring up a boy? He’ll be a lesbian!”). At least the final shot has a surprise in it.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

  • Sylvia Miles as Sally
  • John Cale’s jaunty score

Must See?
No, though it’s worth viewing for Miles’s performance.

Links:

Day of the Dolphin, The (1973)

Day of the Dolphin, The (1973)

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“Do you think they’re going to get sentimental about a dolphin?”

Synopsis:
When a dolphin-training marine biologist (George C. Scott) and his wife (Trish Van Devere) are visited at their research center by a nosy journalist (Paul Sorvino), they soon learn about a nefarious plan involving their beloved animals.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • George C. Scott Films
  • Kidnapping
  • Mike Nichols Films
  • Science Fiction
  • Scientists
  • Talking Animals

Review:
Director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Buck Henry teamed up for a third time — after The Graduate (1967) and Catch-22 (1970) — for this sci-fi-thriller adaptation of a 1967 novel by French author Robert Merle. Unfortunately, it’s a much less successful collaboration, ultimately coming across like a weird missed opportunity — a movie which surely would have been quite different in the hands of Roman Polanski (the originally intended director). Obviously, one must suspend disbelief right away in order to go with the film’s premise that dolphins have learned to understand and speak English:

… which at first seems reasonably plausible, but as the movie progresses and the dolphins are shown to possess even greater comprehension, I simply couldn’t buy it. To their credit, the cast seems fully committed:

… and there are a couple of character switcheroos that one doesn’t see coming. While it has its fans (see DVD Savant’s review, for instance), I’m more in agreement with Vincent Canby’s review for the NY Times in which he refers to this as “a Flipper film for adults, a Day of the Jackal for kids and a Lassie film for scuba divers of all ages.”

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

  • George C. Scott as Dr. Terrell
  • William A. Fraker’s cinematography

Must See?
Nope; you can skip this one unless you’re curious.

Links:

Revolutionary, The (1970)

Revolutionary, The (1970)

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“I’m not cute; I’m not even nice!”

Synopsis:
A college radical (Jon Voight) frustrated with the slow pace of his campus group parts ways with his girlfriend (Collin Wilcox Paxton) and flirts with a wealthy young woman (Jennifer Salt) while working for an activist boss (Robert Duvall), and eventually aligning with a revolutionary bomber (Seymour Cassel).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • College
  • Jon Voight Films
  • Revolutionaries
  • Robert Duvall Films
  • Seymour Cassel Films

Review:
After debuting with Out of It (1969) and before helming Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag-Blues (1970), Paul Williams directed this adaptation of screenwriter Hans Koning‘s novel of the same name, about a discontented college student who is drawn towards increasing action and violence. Unfortunately, the protagonist here — named simply “A” — is as bland as can be; as played by Voight — on a roll after performances in Midnight Cowboy (1969), Out of It (1969), and Catch-22 (1970), and before starring in Deliverance (1972) — he’s simply dull and opaque.

We don’t learn much about where “A” comes from, why he became radicalized, or why he’s so instantly drawn towards a young woman-of-privilege (Jennifer Salt) he catches sight of. Other characterizations are similarly lacking in detail: Robert Duvall’s “Despard”, for instance, is unknowable:

… and all we understand about Cassel’s Leonard II (though perhaps it’s plenty) is that he’s able and willing to carry out immense violence.

Perhaps the most intriguing character is chain-smoking Ann (played by Paxton — best-known for her supporting role in To Kill a Mockingbird), though she’s not treated well by clueless Voight, and once again, we don’t really learn enough about her.

Note: Watch for Jeffrey Jones — Dean Rooney from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) — in his film debut here as a student activist.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

  • A seemingly realistic glimpse into a particular era and context

Must See?
No; this one isn’t must-see.

Links:

Danton (1983)

Danton (1983)

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“For the benefit of the country, we need to be wicked; we can’t afford to be just.”

Synopsis:
During the French Reign of Terror, Georges Danton (Gerard Depardieu) arrives in Paris to meet with his friend Maximillian Robespierre (Wojciech Pszoniak), but soon finds that his life is in danger.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Courtroom Drama
  • Falsely Accused
  • French Films
  • French Revolution
  • Historical Drama
  • Gerard Depardieu Films
  • Living Nightmare
  • Play Adaptation

Review:
Andrzej Wajda directed this loose adaptation of Stanisława Przybyszewska’s 1929 play “The Danton Case,” focusing on the rivalry between two Revolutionary leaders: Maximillian Robespierre and Georges Danton. From the opening moments of the film — with Jean Prodromidès’s horror-inducing score prominently featured — we see Danton riding into a rainy, desperation-filled Paris:


… and know things are headed for nowhere good (sorry, I had to get that pun out of the way right away). Absolutely nothing is sugar-coated here — not the despair of the starving peasants:

… nor the compromises required of those like print-shop owner Camille Desmoulins (Patrice Chéreau) who must choose between loyalty to their cause and the safety of their family:

… nor the intensity of the rampant paranoia that has inevitably cropped up in the midst of such a bloody historical transition. When we first meet Robespierre, we see that he is weak and living a relatively austere life, but willing and ready to get dressed up for his very-serious work as the architect of the Reign of Terror.

He is at first reluctant to order the execution of Danton, given that he’s seen as a hero by many; the primary plot elements for the remainder of the film center on who is involved in which potential coup against who, and which faction will act first. Because this is an historical drama, we know how things will end — which doesn’t make it any less grueling to see such mass violence, betrayal, and corruption of power playing out. Indeed, it’s hard not to despair while watching this movie — which speaks to its enduring power.

Note: Interestingly, all actors in this international co-production who played supporters of Danton were French, while those in support of Robespierre were Polish — an unsubtle choice that did not go unnoticed. According to the IMDb’s trivia section:

At the time, Poland’s Solidarity movement was very popular in France and, with the film being directed by a Polish director, Andrzej Wajda, everything seemed right for the film to be a hit. There are elements in the film that seemed to draw an analogy between the French Revolution and Solidarity’s fight against Communism. However, the Government had swung to the right by the time the film was released in January 1983. The harsh, icy portrayal of Robespierre was considered particularly objectionable and the attitude was that Wajda had denigrated the French Revolution by misrepresenting its icons.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

  • Wojciech Pszoniak as Robespierre
  • Gerard Depardieu as Danton
  • Fine period detail and cinematography
  • Jean Prodromidès’s score

Must See?
Yes, as a creepily effective historical nightmare-drama.

Links: