THE KLANSMAN -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 2/21/17

 

In one of my favorite movies, RUNAWAY TRAIN, an elderly railroad worker is ordered to derail an oncoming locomotive with no brakes when it reaches his point on the track.  So the old guy pulls the switch lever, hurries back to his truck, and then relaxes contentedly with a cup of hot coffee and the words: "This is gonna be good!"

It was with the same sense of anticipation that I sat back to witness the trainwreck that is THE KLANSMAN (1974), and I must say I wasn't disappointed.  It's the film equivalent of watching something bad happen and perversely enjoying every minute of it.

I'm not sure at what point the brakes burned out on this one, but it had to be somewhere along the time they hired Richard Burton to play a crusty old Southern gentleman with a limp and Italian bombshell Luciana Paluzzi as Trixie, the Southern-fried secretary to Lee Marvin's laconic smalltown lawman Sheriff "Track" Bascomb.

It helps that this deliriously lurid potboiler about the conflicts between redneck Klan yokels and the local black population in smalltown Alabama--exacerbated by an impending civil rights march that's drawing agitators from the big city--is one of the most circus-like conglomerations of blatant stereotypes ever thrown together into one steamy potluck stew.

Amazingly, this TV-movie-level production was helmed by none other than Terence Young, the man who directed the James Bond classics DR. NO, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, and THUNDERBALL, as well as the Audrey Hepburn thriller WAIT UNTIL DARK, none of which this movie resembles in any way whatsoever.  I must assume that Mr. Young boned up on the American South of the 60s and 70s by reading some Li'l Abner comics or watching a few reruns of "The Beverly Hillbillies."

Not that any of this is meant in a negative way, mind you.  Bad movies are one of my weaknesses and this one is so incredibly, entertainingly bad in such a wide variety of interesting ways that it becomes an object of riveting fascination. 

The film opens on the edge of town with both black and white spectators egging on a retarded black behemoth named "Lightning Rod" to rape a black woman for their enjoyment, which is broken up by spoilsport Marvin who tells everyone to go home. 

Later, Linda Evans (Audra Barkley on "The Big Valley", here playing the role of "Nancy Poteet"), is raped by an unknown black assailant, which really stirs up them Klan boys and has them hopping into their pickups in lynch-mob mode and yee-hawing it up all over town.

They end up raping none other than Lola Falana's character Loretta Sykes, who's back from the big city to care for her dying mother.  This time the honors are done by Cameron Mitchell as Marvin's hyper-redneck deputy "Butt Cutt" Cates, partly to get back at Burton's character who actually likes the black townsfolk and treats them decently, which, in them parts, is a big no-no. 

It's a no-brainer that rolling around naked with a sweaty Cameron Mitchell on top of her can't have been one of the high points of Lola Falana's career. Other dizzying moments include David Huddleston's Mayor Hardy Riddle conducting a Klan meeting that's as comically absurd as an SNL skit, "Nancy Poteet" being run out of a church service because she's been "tainted" by her black rapist, and O.J. Simpson as an angry local named Garth creeping around with a sniper rifle and picking off white folks. 

Lee Marvin makes his way through all of this as though wondering what the hell he's doing there, managing a passable performance while taking none of it any too seriously.  Burton, arguably one of the finest actors who ever lived when the material was worthy of his talent, seems to be looking around for his paycheck most of the time.  (I still love him.) 

The rest of the rather incredible cast are into their roles to the hilt, with O.J. doing the angry young man in scary-convincing style and Cameron Mitchell giving us one of the most amusingly exaggerated Southern redneck characters this side of a Klan cookout. 

Finally, after all the turgid buildup, director Young taps into some of that old Bond magic for a climactic gunfight between shotgun-totin' rednecks, O.J. and his sniper rifle, and Lee Marvin wielding a machine gun like he's back in THE DIRTY DOZEN, which is probably where he wished he was.

The DVD from Olive Films is 1.78:1 widescreen with mono sound and English subtitles.  No extras. 

Sometimes a racially-charged, tautly-suspenseful thriller like this is described as a "powder keg."  THE KLANSMAN is like a powder keg of stupid, its fuse burning down in giddy anticipation ("This is gonna be good!") until the final blast of dumb fun leaves us dazed and amused.  

LAWLESS -- Blu-Ray/DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 11/21/12

 

In director John Hillcoat's 2005 film THE PROPOSITION, he took a familiar genre--the American Western--and gave it a distinctly Australian spin that practically turned the Outback into Monument Valley.  With LAWLESS (2012), he and screenwriter Nick Cave bring this Western sensibility forward into the Prohibition era with a stunning backwoods mash-up of gunfighters, moonshiners, and Chicago-style gangsters. 

THE PROPOSITION's star, Guy Pearce (MEMENTO, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL), is back as special deputy Charlie Rakes, a mildly grotesque-looking dandy with a severe haircut and a total lack of both eyebrows and scruples.  Rakes is a crooked lawman who intends to muscle his way into the booming moonshine business that makes Franklin County, Virginia "the wettest county in the world", but in doing so comes up against the tightly-bonded Bondurant brothers--Forrest, Howard, and Jack--who have no intention of giving the big-city interloper one red cent of their moonshine profits no matter how many gun-toting government goons he sends their way.

This, of course, leads to war.  Forrest (Tom Hardy, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, STAR TREK: NEMESIS), leader of the Bondurant boys, is a soft-spoken, taciturn lug with a reputation for immortality--he tends to survive even the most grievous injuries and no-win situations, until finally his fabled luck runs out on him in one of the film's most shocking scenes. Vengeance follows close behind, and with it an escalation of the violence into the realm of the horrific (to which director Hillcoat is no stranger). 

Hardy's simmering yet robust performance is among LAWLESS' many fascinations, notable in part for the sympathy and admiration evoked by such a sometimes ruthless character.  When city girl Maggie (Jessica Chastain, CORIOLANUS) seeks work at the Bondurants' rural roadhouse to escape a troubled past, Forrest's uncomfortable shyness in response to her romantic overtures is endearing. 

As de facto head of the family, he looks after his brothers the only way he knows how--by being a fearsome badass who never backs down to anybody.  This leads to some tense and exciting confrontations between him and various local and state lawmen who dare to stick their noses in his business.

Howard (Jason Clarke, DEATH RACE, PUBLIC ENEMIES) is older and brawnier than Forrest but not as smart or responsible.  He can go from affable to animalistic in seconds, and in one of the film's highlights, two deputies delivering an ultimatum from Rakes learn the hard way not to rile Howard when he's been on a stump-whiskey bender. 

The youngest Bondurant, Jack (Shia LaBeouf, A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS), is a crackerjack driver but lacks the cruel edge needed to be a gangster like his idol, "Mad Dog" Floyd Banner (a wonderful Gary Oldman).  Floyd pulls into Jack's sleepy town one day, whips out his Tommy gun, and coolly riddles a pursuing ATF man's car with bullets while the youngster looks on admiringly.

Jack has a harrowing brush with Floyd in Chicago later on while trying to move a load of moonshine along with his younger partner Cricket (Dane DeHaan, CHRONICLE), with Oldman making the most of his brief appearance in the role. 

Shia LaBeouf is at his best here as the callow, naive outlaw-wannabe preening like a peacock in his late father's suit, playing gangster while headed for a rude awakening as Rakes and his goons close in on the Bondurants.  Meanwhile his awkward romantic intentions are inflamed by a doe-like preacher's daughter named Bertha (Mia Wasikowska, THAT EVENING SUN), who finds him more appealing than does her fire-and-brimstone father.  Jack's coming-of-age is the main story in LAWLESS, as his innate humanity prevents him from fully transforming into that which he wrongly idealizes.

Hillcoat directs both the action and the quieter scenes with impeccable style, as finely-detailed production design captures the look and atmosphere of the era.  There's an oddly delirious intensity to the scene in which a drunken Jack visits Bertha's church just in time for a mutual foot-washing ritual that he finds unbearably erotic, while Maggie's late-night seduction of a bashful Forrest is both haunting and strangely amusing.  Such moments are offset by instances of sudden, bone-crushing violence that are unsparingly brutal.

The 3-disc Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo from Anchor Bay and the Weinsteins is in 2.35:1 widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound and subtitles in English and Spanish.  There's an informative commentary track with director Hillcoat and author Matt Bondurant, who wrote the source novel "The Wettest County in the World" based on his own family history.  Extras also include deleted scenes, three behind-the-scenes featurettes, and a music video by Willie Nelson for the song "Midnight Run."

Strangely, the rose-colored glasses through which Matt Bondurant seems to view his relatives' unsavory past ultimately give us an ending that almost matches RAISING ARIZONA for smarmy sentimentality.  Despite their more admirable qualities, these guys are violent, ruthless criminals--cornpone Corleones, you might say--so I must admit I didn't get that warm family vibe that Bondurant intends to impart at story's end.  But until then, LAWLESS is thrilling, emotionally resonant, exquisitely rendered, and riveting.

THE MISADVENTURES OF MERLIN JONES (1964) -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 7/11/21

 

 

Currently watching: THE MISADVENTURES OF MERLIN JONES (1964). I have a sneaking suspicion that I saw this at the theater or maybe on "The Wonderful World of Color" on TV as a kid but it has been lost in the hazy recesses of my memory.

All I remember is a fleeting image of Annette, and thinking that she must be just about the perfect girlfriend. Anyway, I'm counting this as a first watch.

This bright, colorful Disney comedy is the forerunner of a series of films about an egghead student at the fictional Medfield College whose wacky experiments end up giving him outrageous super-powers or otherwise causing comedic chaos in one way or another, often involving running afoul of rival students and/or gangster types.

 

 

The 1970s version would be Disney star Kurt Russell (yes, he used to be a chipper, clean-cut teen idol) as science major Dexter Riley, whose laboratory foul-ups would result in him gaining super strength, becoming invisible, and acquiring the brain of a human computer.

But in this mis-adventure that started it all, popular teen star Tommy Kirk plays science whiz Merlin Jones, resident genius who's only properly appreciated by his loyal girlfriend Annette (that isn't her name in the movie, but I don't care).

Merlin gets the plot ball rolling by accidentally short-circuiting himself into being able to read people's thoughts, which means trouble when he reads the mind of the judge (Leon Ames) who tried his traffic court case and finds out that the distinguished gentlemen is planning a nefarious diamond theft and a murder. 

 

 

This is enough to keep things hopping, and sorta amusing, for the first third or so of the movie, especially when Merlin ends up helping the police by using his mind-reading powers on a shifty suspect during a polygraph interrogation, and when he and Annette search the judge's home disguised as plumbers.

But then the whole mind-reading subplot is resolved and we discover that this is going to be a rather episodic story that will also find Merlin delving deeply into hypnotism, which he uses not only in an attempt to increase the intelligence of a lab chimp but also to find out if an honest man can be hypnotized into committing dishonest acts.

(During all of which he also has some ongoing problems with brawny campus bully Norman, as played by familiar character actor Norman Grabowski.)

To be honest, some of this overplotted stuff tends to get a tad tedious at times, especially since I have an aversion to chimps (the exception being "Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp" and Cheetah from the Johnny Weissmuller Tarzans). 

 

 

Fortunately, Tommy Kirk is at his awkward, boyishly likable best here, and Annette is just totally acing being Annette, which goes a long way toward increasing this film's watchability. No wonder American-International put them together in their teen "beach party" comedy PAJAMA PARTY the same year.

Director Robert Stevenson gives this enjoyable effort that same cheerful Disney quality which emanated from most of the studio's 1960s films, just as he did with the likes of MARY POPPINS, IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS, THAT DARN CAT!, THE LOVE BUG, this film's sequel THE MONKEY'S UNCLE, and many more. Stevenson works wonders with Disney's backlot in creating a pleasant smalltown atmosphere.

THE MISADVENTURES OF MERLIN JONES is hardly earthshaking, must-see entertainment, but for fans of early Disney, modest family comedies, and the two appealing stars, it's quite a pleasant way to pass some time. 

 

WHAT? -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/20/16

 

There's a scene in Roman Polanski's 1973 comedy WHAT? in which three comical housepainters are slapping paint on a wall in a villa in Italy.  It's one of my favorite scenes in the whole movie because, for a few brief moments, we actually get to watch paint dry.

The rest of the film tries really hard to maintain that level of excitement, but there's a reason why Roman Polanski is known more for drama and horror than comedy despite giving us the truly wonderful THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS in 1967. 

The story begins with an attempted rape--always surefire comedy gold--after which Nancy (Sydne Rome, SOME GIRLS DO, JUST A GIGOLO), an American tourist hitchhiking through Italy, seeks shelter in a rambling seaside villa inhabited by a menagerie of odd but not especially interesting characters, most of whom are sex-crazed or just plain crazed.

Nancy is one of those wide-eyed "Little Annie Fanny" types, overripe but innocent, always ending up with little or no clothes on.  Her spaced-out kewpie-doll manner kept reminding me of that time Farrah Fawcett was on "The Late Show" with David Letterman. 

The hapless Nancy will be lusted after by various inhabitants of the place (including Polanski himself as "Mosquito") who are weird but not comically so, and the loony ex-pimp Alex (Marcello Mastroianni, who is interesting by default). 

Eccentric Alex baffles Nancy with his impulsive sado-masochistic role-playing games such as him dressing up in a lion skin and insisting that she whip him, or dressing as a gendarme and whipping her.  When he suddenly has his way with her right there on the floor it's the film's one overtly sexual encounter.

Such ribald naughtiness wafts in and out of this largely dreary sex farce in which the story seems to be wandering as aimlessly as the half-dressed Nancy (her clothes keep getting stolen) as she noses around the spacious villa having meet-cutes and then writing it all down in her daily diary in childlike terms. 

Alternately smutty and silly, WHAT? is yet another variation on the old "Alice in Wonderland" story.  This rarely turns out as clever as filmmakers think it's going to (MALICE IN WONDERLAND) and is often an excuse for aimless surrealism mixed with various half-baked profundities.

Polanski seems to be making the whole thing up as he goes along until at last it can only fall apart like a house of cards. Strangely enough, though, it's this fourth-wall-breaking mess of an ending that I liked best of all. 

The Blu-ray from Severin Films is in 1080p full HD resolution with Dolby 2.0 English and Italian soundtracks.  No subtitles.  Extras consist of interviews with star Sydne Rome ("Sydne in Wonderland"), composer Claudion Gizzi ("Memories of a Young Pianist"), and cinematographer Marcello Gatti ("A Surreal Pop Movie"), and the film's trailer.  As usual, Severin has done a great job putting these extras together. 

On the plus side, WHAT? is scenic and has a nice classical music score, and Sydne Rome is easy to look at.  But despite some mildly amusing scenes here and there, I found it surprisingly dull.



 

THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT (1964) -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 8/17/21

 

Currently rewatching: THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT (1964), directed by George Roy Hill and starring Peter Sellers.

I have such a deep sentimental attachment to this movie that when I got the DVD in the mail today and popped it into my DVD player, I started to tear up just from hearing the menu music.

This was the second movie I ever recorded from the TV on my very first VCR back in 1981 (the first was ALIEN off of HBO) on my very first blank videotape.

 

It stars a deliciously deadpan Peter Sellers (THE PINK PANTHER, DR. STRANGELOVE, BEING THERE), but the real stars are the two kooky tweener girls who fall in love with his character, an egotistical avant-garde pianist (and cad) named Henry Orient, and start stalking him and interrupting his attempts to have an affair with a married woman until he goes nuts.

The girls come from broken homes and find solace in their unlikely friendship. It's a funny comedy but is also filled with heartwarming sentiment and stuff. The two teens, Tippy Walker as flighty, rebellious Val and Merrie Spaeth as soft-spoken, conscientious, but easily-led Gil, do a fantastic job and are infinitely likable.

The film is solidly directed by George Roy Hill (BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, THE STING, THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP) with a playful but poignant score by Elmer Bernstein. It also stars Paula Prentiss, Angela Lansbury, Tom Bosley, Phyllis Thaxter, Bibi Osterwald, and Al Lewis.

 

Lansbury plays Val's aloof, cold-fish mother as only she can, giving us a clear indication of where many of the poor girl's problems come from. Tom Bosley does his familiar big old teddy bear routine as her soft-spoken father, who regrets neglecting his daughter over the years and hopes to make amends.

Prentiss, as usual, is a delight as Henry's object of desire, forever frantic that their impending affair will be discovered. Phyllis Thaxter and Bibi Osterwald play Gil's divorced mother and her brassy live-in friend, giving the girl a supportive home life as opposed to Val's empty existence which she must fill with wild fantasy.

Hollywood doesn't know how or particularly want to make warmly sentimental coming-of-age comedies like THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT anymore--especially G-rated ones--which makes this finely-rendered example of that lost genre even more of a treasure. It means as much to me now as it did back when it was one of the only two movies in my home video collection.

GOTO, ISLE OF LOVE -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/29/17

 

Polish artist Walerian Borowczyk began his film career with bizarre animated shorts and features, then applied his unique artistic sensibilities to live-action film with the amazing GOTO, ISLE OF LOVE, aka "Goto, l'île d'amour" (Olive Films, 1969).

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that this film was one of David Lynch's influences when he conceived his cult classic ERASERHEAD.  While GOTO isn't as overtly surreal as Lynch's work, it's so unremittingly odd, pictorially beautiful (in a perverse way, despite being a stark study in ugliness and decay), and meticulously rendered in gorgeous, finely-etched black-and-white that it exudes an almost intoxicating dreamlike quality during each moment it's on the screen.

Goto is an island where, due to some natural catastrophe, 90% of the population has been wiped out and the survivors exist in an almost primitive state in which they must make do with the crumbling remnants of their former civilization.  The people are governed by a military dictator named Goto (Pierre Brasseur) and live in the walled ruins of a fortress which, in better days, would have been condemned and demolished.

The story is fairly simple.  Petty criminal Grozo (Guy Saint-Jean) is pardoned by Goto and given three important responsibilities--taking care of Goto's beloved dogs, shining his and his beautiful wife Glossia's boots (a task Grozo savors since he's desperately in love with Glossia), and killing flies via several elaborate fly traps that he distributes daily around the heavily-infested fortress. 

Complications arise when Grozo discovers that Glossia (Ligia Branice) is having an affair with her horseback riding instructor, Gono (Jean-Pierre Andréani), with whom she plans to escape the island in a rowboat.  Grozo then puts his cunning little criminal mind to work to hatch a plan that will somehow rid him of both Goto and Gono so that he can weasel his way into the good graces of the henceforth unattainable Queen. 

While the story is an engaging one, what fascinates us about GOTO is the way Borowczyk executes it all as an artist creating a work of cinematic beauty out of the ordinary and at times repellant, the way a sculptor might use a scrap metal heap as raw material in welding together a makeshift masterpiece.
 

 

Each scene is filmed in formal, proscenium-arch wide shots dotted with cartoonishly-edited inserts, some in startling full color for emphasis (as when Grozo fantasizes about Glossia's boots or feeds the dogs luxuriously bloody hunks of raw meat).  Stark lighting eliminates all shadows, giving everything a blanched, almost too-real look.  Yet even without the shadows and wild camera angles, the visuals are somewhat reminiscent of German expressionism. 

Paint-peeling ruin and crumbling brick walls are the eternal backdrop of these people's lives, brightened only by rare artifacts which survived the catastrophe.  Scraps of fine clothing and other items are bartered for goods and services, even in the island's brothel where no money changes hands. 

The prostitutes are seen bathing communally in a nude scene quite titillating for 1969, as Grozo indulges himself while dreaming that he is with Glossia. They, along with some lovely shots of horses and a visit to the seaside (the boundary of Glossia's prison from which she yearns to escape), are the only respite from the film's grim tableaux of stagnant despair.

 

Inhabiting this world are characters all of whom are either rumpled military buffoons or destitute peasants risking extreme penalties (including the guillotine) to pilfer rotting apples that have fallen from the Governor's trees. Grozo himself is an engaging though ratlike little anti-hero, Glossia a flawed diamond in the roughest rough.  Even Goto has enough good qualities for us to empathize with him as more than just a tinhorn tyrant.  

Fortunately, GOTO isn't as depressing as it sounds since Borowczyk's bone-dry, deadpan sense of humor and keen mastery of the absurd keep us engaged in the most delightful and darkly enchanting ways throughout this otherwise hopelessly bleak tale. 

At times it's as though we're seeing the kind of distressingly odd world that illustrator John Tenniel created for "Alice in Wonderland" come to life, as strange and inescapable as a nightmare yet perversely compelling as well.

The DVD from Olive Films has an aspect ratio of l.66:1 with mono French sound and English subtitles.  Extras consist of the film's trailer, an introduction by artist and Turner Prize nominee Craigle Horsfield, and the lengthy featurette "The Concentration Universe: Goto, Isle of Love" featuring interviews with actor Jean-Pierre Andréani ("Gono") and several key crewmembers from the film.

GOTO, ISLE OF LOVE never fully engages us emotionally--it's just too odd, in both wonderful yet strangely off-putting ways--but we care when the story takes a classically tragic turn and ends on a haunting note.  Most of all, however, I enjoyed it as a stunning work of pure, joyful cinematic art.  Watching it is like creeping through a nightmare gallery in which the artist's fevered subconscious visions have achieved crude substance.

Order the Blu-ray or DVD from Olive Films

JOE -- DVD Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 4/24/18

 

Definitely a fascinating artifact of the waning 60s on the cusp of the 70s, JOE (Olive Films, 1970) gives us a look right into what that particular time was like. That is, a look at it through the eyes of filmmakers and actors who weren't quite sure just what to make of the era themselves yet.

The basic theme is older generation vs. younger generation--a major preoccupation at the time, especially in fiction--and how suddenly each side was so vastly distant and different from the other that reconciliation seemed impossible. 

The main adversaries seemed to be the straight conservative crowd on one side and the far-out anything-goes "hippies" who all seemed to be engaging in drugs and free love morning till night on the other. 

JOE opens with a hippie couple in their squalid flat in New York. Playing "Frank" is Patrick McDermott, who would be the drug-testing dopehead in THE FRENCH CONNECTION a few years later and here portrays a no-good heroin addict who pushes drugs to teens. 

Not only that, but he's mean to his troubled, "poor little rich girl" girlfriend Melissa, played by an impossibly young Susan Sarandon in her screen debut.

One day Melissa, feeling neglected by her dope-pushing boyfriend, goes on a pill-fueled tear through a corner store and gets thrown into a psychiatric hospital. 

Her father, wealthy businessman Bill Compton (Dennis Patrick, "Dallas", "Dark Shadows", THE TIME TRAVELERS), runs into Frank at Melissa's apartment and, after the expected clash, kills the vile, unrepentant punk. 

Later, a distraught Bill goes to a sleazy bar for a drink and encounters Joe (Peter Boyle, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, TAXI DRIVER, "Everybody Loves Raymond"), a bigoted, loudmouthed factory worker who hates hippies, minorities, commies, and anyone else who doesn't fit into his narrow range of acceptance.

When Joe discovers that Bill just killed a hippie, his admiration leads him to befriend the man and they become an unlikely pair.  After some awkward social moments between the men and their wives (K Callan of THE ONION FIELD and AMERICAN GIGOLO and Audrey Caire of THEY SAVED HITLER'S BRAIN), they go off into the night in search of Bill's daughter, who has run away, giving Joe an excuse to direct his anger toward the counterculture punks all around him in increasingly violent form, including firearms, with a hesitant Bill swept along.

It sounds as though the viewer is in for a harrowing experience, but while toying with a gritty, HARDCORE-esque ambience, JOE never feels real enough to make us dread what will happen next even when Joe is roughing up some hapless hippie chick, whom he's just had tawdry sex with, for information.

From the first moments with Melissa and Frank in their flat, which feel like a play being performed in a small, intimate theater setting, the acting and dialogue are too affected and unreal to make us believe these are real people and that we're eavesdropping on their lives.

Moreover, the characters are all painted in the broadest stereotypical strokes, from the "groovy" stoned-out hippies to Joe sitting in the bar complaining about the (insert "n-word" here, repeatedly) on welfare and generally behaving the way a screenwriter who didn't actually know anyone like Joe imagined he would. 

With these cartoon characters exchanging phoney-sounding over-the-top dialogue in stagey situations (director John G. Avildsen does what he can with the material but he's still miles from his future success with ROCKY), it's hard to believe critics at the time raved over how intense and hard-hitting the film was, some comparing it to BONNIE & CLYDE.

Strangely enough, still others described it as a hilarious comedy that had them laughing from start to finish, which, despite the fact that there are definitely some amusing passages, really had me wondering how a film could be perceived in such widely, and wildly, varying ways.

Naturally, Joe himself has to be an extreme enough caricature of the right-wing, working class WWII vet to allow scripter Norman Wexler to offer some shocking anti-social language and actions, and to go for the big, violent ending that's meant to leave us gasping.

But with a film filled with such caricatures, their aberrant activities come off as sort of a Paul Schrader-Lite melodrama that lacks real emotional heft or visceral impact.

What the film strikes me as, basically, is an attempt to show that both sides of "the generation gap" were guilty of thoughtless, even boorish behavior and a tendency towards hypocrisy and intolerance. (With a little class envy thrown in for good measure.)

While JOE doesn't succeed in making this seem real for us, it does stand as an amusing depiction of some of the real hotbed issues of the time through some ultimately artificial characters and events.

Buy it at Olive Films
Release Date: April 28

Tech Specs:
Rated: R
Subtitles: English (optional)
Video: 1:85:1 aspect ratio; color
Runtime: 107 minutes
Bonus: Trailer

WAGON TRACKS (1919) -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 1/21/17

 

I love silent movies.  They represent over thirty years of great, and not-so-great, filmmaking which is at times either utterly astounding or deeply moving, and often both. 

The form itself is fascinating, reliant almost entirely on the visual, inviting the audience to become fully involved and immersed, interpreting the action and meaning rather than simply being passive spectators. 

And it's all right there for the film fan to rediscover--at least, the relatively small percentage of it that survives, the rest sadly having been lost over the years. 

I love westerns too, so when I saw that producer Thomas H. Ince and star William S. Hart's 1919 sagebrush saga WAGON TRACKS was being released on Blu-ray and DVD by Olive Films, my interest was, to put it mildly, piqued. 

I'd never seen any of Hart's films, but I knew that he was born in 1864 during the Civil War and grew up in honest-to-goodness western times, a friend of Wyatt Earp and "Bat" Masterson, and a believer in making his western films as authentic and true to life as possible. 

Indeed, in 1919 what we know as the Old West still existed to a large extent, and to make a film about it then was to have access to an amazing degree of first-hand authenticity and realism which drew not from history books but from the memories and experiences of those involved.

In WAGON TRACKS as in his other films, Hart eschews the glamorized, stylized, and somewhat prettified image of the west that would eventually become the norm.  His character, desert scout "Buckskin" Hamilton, is rough and unsophisticated, but with a strong sense of decency and a simple code of behavior that is honest and straightforward. 

We pick up the story as he travels East through the desert to meet his younger brother Billy (Leo Pierson), a recent medical school graduate, at the Missouri River.  But Billy is killed by crooked gambler Washburn (Robert McKim) and his toady Merton (Lloyd Bacon) before their riverboat docks, and Washburn blames the shooting on his own sister Jane (Jane Novak), claiming that Billy had tried to molest her.

In her confusion, Jane goes along with the story, but the heartbroken Buckskin refuses to believe it. As fate would have it, he becomes leader of the wagon train that will carry the Washburns west.  During the trip, which is fraught with hardship (Indian attacks, water shortages, etc.), Buckskin discovers the truth behind Billy's death and sets out to get not revenge, but justice.

The story meanders a bit at times and there isn't the frenetic action and suspense we would come to expect from the typical matinee western.  Hart, with his long, homely face and soulful eyes, prefers to explore the feelings of the characters--the frontiersman's grief and yearning for closure in his brother's death, Jane's nagging guilt and despair, the daily uncertainties of the homesteaders, and the desperation of the two villains when forced to face up to their crime.

Hart and director Lambert Hillyer (DRACULA'S DAUGHTER) indulge in melodrama only when Buckskin is faced with the grief of his brother's death, and even here Hart's stage training enables him to express sincere emotion.  Elsewhere, the exaggerated acting styles of the cast are a valid means of expression in silent film acting although for modern audiences it may take a bit of getting used to.  

As for the locations, costumes, and other production elements, they're as authentic as it gets.  What we see isn't a simulation of the Old West, but the real thing.  The wagon train scenes aren't as grand as those in Raoul Walsh's 1930 epic THE BIG TRAIL, but they're immensely satisfying nonetheless.  Cinematography (tinted to denote bright sunlight or night) is fine.

The DVD from Olive Films is in 1.33:1 aspect ratio with stereo sound.  The original score is written and performed on piano by Andrew Earle Simpson and retains the flavor of the silent era.  Intertitles are nicely illustrated. While containing the usual occasional flaws for a film of this age, the picture quality for the most part is outstanding.  No extras.

An encounter with Indians that goes from friendly to hostile due to an unfortunate culture clash sets up the film's resolution, which some might consider anti-climactic since it doesn't involve gunplay or ruthless revenge.  William S. Hart's character is a man of deep feeling and integrity, which WAGON TRACKS portrays with understatement and maturity.  This is a film for lovers of silent cinema and early westerns to savor. 

Buy it from Olive Films

BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 2/28/18

 

Whenever I used to see a picture of a wizened, bespectacled Burt Lancaster gently tending his birds in a jail cell in the 1962 classic BIRDMAN OF ALCATARAZ (Olive Films), I got the impression that watching it would be a bit like seeing an episode of "Mr. Rogers' Cell Block."

Well, Mr. Rogers this guy ain't.  The real-life Robert Stroud was a killer of two men, one a prison guard, and he barely escaped the hangman's noose only to find himself in perpetual solitary confinement for most of the rest of his life.

The film based on his experiences isn't entirely a sweet stroll down Memory Lane either, although the grittier, more hardcore "prison thriller" scenes are confined to two passages: one, Stroud's early confinement in which he is a bundle of violent anger, and two, a deadly prison riot in which the older, wearier Stroud loathes to participate. 

In between, the eternal loner finds a wounded sparrow during his daily stroll in the prison yard and decides to nurse it back to health in his cell, partly for something to do and partly for some simple company. This is the beginning of a long journey of research and discovery that will eventually result in his becoming the foremost expert of birds and bird diseases. 

But that comes later, and Lancaster brilliantly expresses Stroud's growing empathy and love for these creatures he so patiently cares for until they're ready to do what he cannot, which is to fly away to freedom.

Stroud's evolution from almost Cody Jarrett-level instability (like Cagney's character he's a mama's boy, probably because she's the only one in his life who can tolerate him) to a caring, nurturing soul is subtly convincing, thanks both to Lancaster's sensitive performance and a delicately-wrought screenplay brought elegantly to life by director John Frankenheimer (THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, SECONDS, THE TRAIN). 

"The Birdman", as he becomes known, is seen amassing a veritable aviary in his cell over the years, meticulously crafting cages from scrap material and scouring books from the prison library to aid in his quest to cure avian diseases.  But despite a genius I.Q., his simmering rebelliousness keeps him at odds with the prison system except for a sympathetic guard solidly played by the great Neville Brand. 

Telly Savalas (complete with black side-hair) is a joy as Stroud's cell neighbor Feto Gomez, who inherits his interest for birds to such an extent that we're touched by the big lug's clumsy efforts to love and care for his own feathered friends. 

As Stroud's clinging mother, Thelma Ritter ably conveys the singleminded obsession for her son's well-being that will later turn to spiteful jealousy when he forms a business partnership with Betty Field (OF MICE AND MEN) that will result in a more intimate relationship. 

Karl Malden is fine as the spiteful warden who vows to make life difficult for Stroud however he can.  The ever-stalwart Whit Bissell, Edmond O'Brien, and Hugh Marlowe also get to shine in brief but choice roles. 

In addition to being one of the 60s' leading stylists in starkly exquisite black-and-white photography--which nobody should ever even dare to think of colorizing--Frankenheimer's direction is so sensitive at times that the film takes on almost the same heartrendingly evocative tone as TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (which also benefits from a beautiful score by Elmer Bernstein) and we find ourselves siding with Stroud as he fights the system or strives to gain parole. 

It's all a bit morally ambiguous, and I suspect the real convict on which the story is based might not have been quite as sympathetic as Burt Lancaster's gentle soul (I had to keep reminding myself that he was a double murderer). By the end, however, none of this matters as the film works its sentimental magic and earns our emotional investment. 

We wonder whether or not Stroud will remain neutral during the big climactic riot and attempted breakout that occurs after he's been transferred to "The Rock." But I can't imagine being neutral toward BIRDMAN OF ALCATARAZ, a richly rewarding viewing experience of great intelligence, sensitivity, and depth.


Order the Blu-ray or DVD from Olive Films

Rated: NR (not rated)
Subtitles: English (optional)
Video: 1.66:1 aspect ratio; b&w
Runtime: 149 minutes
Bonus features: commentary by Kate Buford, author of "Burt Lancaster: An American Life", trailer

OPERATION PETTICOAT -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 11/26/17

 

There's a fine line between war movie and lightweight comedy, and director Blake Edwards (THE PINK PANTHER) treads it like a tightrope walker in OPERATION PETTICOAT (1959, Olive Signature) with the help of a frothy script and a terrific cast.

Cary Grant (TO CATCH A THIEF, THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION) plays Captain Sherman of the Sea Tiger, a small submarine that gets sunk at dockside during an air attack before having even a chance to see action.  As this happens mere days after December 7, 1941, both Sherman and crew are itching to get into battle, but it's only after some fast talking to his superiors and the help of new crewmember Lt. JG Nicholas Holden (Tony Curtis), a top-notch scrounger and con man, that they're given permission to attempt a dangerous voyage to the nearest repair dock.

From the initial aerial bombardment sequence we can tell that OPERATION PETTICOAT will be sufficiently suspenseful and action-oriented without actually showing anyone getting killed, allowing the story an underlying "feelgood" quality without trivializing the war theme.

As a dandy who'd rather be in a rumba contest with the admiral's wife than anywhere near combat, Curtis fully utilizes his skills at very wry, very dry comedy and is just the kind of cool, calculating con man the Captain needs in order to bypass endless unfilled requisitions and acquire what they need to get the Sea Tiger under way. 

Grant, of course, plays his stern, authoritative character's comedic moments with an exquisitely measured deadpan, as only he could.  In other words, he excells at being Cary Grant.

As if their slow crawl across the Pacific Ocean weren't arduous enough, they pick up five stranded passengers--Maj. Edna Heywood (the great Virginia Gregg of "Dragnet" fame among many other things) and four nurses played by Dina Merrill (I'LL TAKE SWEDEN), Joan O'Brien, Madelyn Rhue, and Marion Ross (later to become Mrs. Cunningham on "Happy Days").

The nurses, naturally, will have a pronounced effect on Sherman's all-male crew during their time together in extremely close quarters, leading to some predictable but nonetheless pleasantly comedic mishaps and romantic entanglements.  Additional inadvertent passengers will include some very pregnant women and a couple of farm animals.

Salty old mechanic Tostin (Arthur O'Connell, THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT) does what he can to keep the engines running, chafing whenever head nurse Edna, who has experience as a mechanic, insists on helping out.  They will--in charming fashion, of course--eventually warm up to each other in one of the film's eventual romantic pairings.

Curtis' forays in advanced scrounging provide most of the laughs as does the tendency of generously-endowed Nurse Crandall (O'Brien) to wreak havoc with everything she touches.  It doesn't take long for us to form an affection for the struggling sub that somehow gets painted pink along the way (something about having to mix red and white paint in order to have enough to cover it) as it trudges slowly across the waves, barely able to submerge without springing a leak. 

Director Blake Edwards' talent for suspense comes into play during the aerial attacks as well as the obligatory sequence in which the fragile submarine must dive ever lower as depth charges rain down around it.  Such scenes transcend the film's situation comedy premise and lend it the gravitas of a genuine war movie.

The delightful cast also includes Gavin McLeod (soon to play a similar role in the TV series "McHale's Navy" before becoming captain of "The Love Boat"), a pre-"Bewitched" Dick Sargent, Gene Evans, and Frankie Darro.  Highly prolific composer David Rose of "Bonanza" fame fills the musical duties for Edwards as fellow Universal-International employee Henry Mancini would later on. 

OPERATION PETTICOAT is a perfect blend of war movie and light comedy, never veering far enough into farce to leave realism behind.  It takes us through enough emotionally resonant situations to ultimately earn an ending that's disarmingly sentimental without losing its breezy attitude.


Order the Blu-ray from Olive Films

Tech Specs:
New High-Definition digital restoration
Rated: NR (not rated)
Subtitles: English (optional)
Video: 1.85:1 aspect ratio; Eastman color
Runtime: 120 min
Release date: November 28, 2017

Bonus Features:
Audio commentary by critic Adrian Martin
“That’s What Everybody Says About Me” – with Jennifer Edwards and actress Lesley Ann Warren
“The Brave Crew of the Petticoat” – with actors Gavin MacLeod and Marion Ross
“The Captain and His Double: Cary Grant’s Struggle of the Self” – with Marc Eliot, author of Cary Grant: A Biography
Universal Newsreel footage of Cary Grant and the opening of Operation Petticoat at the Radio City Music Hall
Archival footage of the submarine USS Balao, which doubled as the USS Sea Tiger in Operation Petticoat
Booklet insert with essay by critic Chris Fujiwara