THE PEE-WEE HERMAN SHOW ON BROADWAY -- DVD review by porfle

Originally posted on 9/27/11

 

Taped at New York's Stephen Sondheim Theater after its successful Broadway run, THE PEE-WEE HERMAN SHOW ON BROADWAY (2011) proves that fans of Paul Reubens' iconic comedy character really can go home again.  Or at least back to the playhouse.

The audience is filled with people who weren't even born when the original "The Pee Wee Herman Show" premiered on HBO back in 1981, and some of them are barely old enough to have grown up with "Pee-Wee's Playhouse" on Saturday mornings from 1986 to 1991.  But they're an enthusiastic bunch and respond to Pee-Wee's kids' show antics as though they were sitting in Howdy Doody's Peanut Gallery.  Reubens' appearance alone onstage at the beginning of the show, leading them all in a solemn Pledge of Allegiance, elicits a wild ovation.

After the unveiling of the beautiful playhouse set, based mainly on the design of the TV show, Pee-Wee and his usual cast of playmates delve into their familiar antics almost as though thirty years hadn't passed.  The returning members of the cast, of course, are noticably older (Reubens' no-longer-quite-boyish appearance takes a little getting used to) but they bring their characters to life again just as before.  These include Lynne Marie Stewart as Miss Yvonne, "the most beautiful woman in Puppet Land", John Moody as the mischievous Mailman Mike, and John Paragon as mystical, magical swami Jambi, a head who lives in a box.



Also returning is the King of Cartoons, with Lance Roberts replacing the late William Marshall and showing a "Penny" cartoon first aired on the TV show.  (Fans of the 1981 show will be happy to see a reprise of the legendary "Mr. Bungle" educational short.)  Besides a man in a bear suit whom Pee-Wee finds unbearably annoying, the best new character is an energetic Jesse Garcia as Latino handyman Sergio, who installs Pee-Wee's new computer to the consternation of his mechanical pals Clocky, Conky, and Magic Screen.  Lexy Fridell performs the voice of probably the most beloved inanimate playhouse character, Chairry, who actually joins Pee-Wee in a charming song-and-dance number.  Pterri, Randy, and most of the other familiar puppet characters return as well.

"MadTV" alumnus Phil LaMarr does a wonderful job taking over for Lawrence Fishburne as Cowboy Curtis, while also standing in for the late, great Phil Hartman in material originally written for his Kap'n Karl character.  The entire subplot concerning Kap'n Karl's secret love for Miss Yvonne is re-enacted along with most of the other material from the 1981 production, including Pee-Wee's desperate yearning to be able to fly.  LaMarr even seems to be channeling Hartman as he delivers certain lines ("It's the sea, Pee, the sea!").  Missing, and missed, are Edie McClurg as "Hermit Hattie" and Robert Rodriguez regular Tito Larriva as "Hammy."



Also missing, unfortunately, are the snappy pacing and pitch-perfect timing and delivery of the 1981 version, although some of this can be attributed to the fact that the cast are performing a sometimes patchwork blend of both it and the Saturday morning TV show and projecting it all for a much bigger audience.  Comparing the differences between the old and new interpretations of the material distracted from my enjoyment during my initial viewing and I even found myself becoming rather disappointed with it.  With subsequent viewings, however, this problem faded as I began to better appreciate the newer show as its own entity while the nostalgia factor started to kick in more and more. 

The DVD from Image Entertainment and HBO is in 1.78:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital stereo.  No subtitles, although closed-captions are available.  The sole extra is a delightful commentary track featuring Reubens and most of the cast, which continues for almost four minutes after the show has ended (so keep it running after the closing credits). 

Though not as sharp and fresh as the 1981 show or as exhilaratingly off-kilter as the TV series, THE PEE-WEE HERMAN SHOW ON BROADWAY should be a delight for Pee-Wee Herman fans old and new.  Lush, colorful, and vigorously performed to a joyfully receptive audience, it's a welcome return to a unique character and a magical time and place that you may have thought was lost forever.

THE MUMMY'S TOMB (1942) -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 3/8/17

 

In 1942 came the second follow-up to Karloff's 1932 original film THE MUMMY. Unlike the first sequel, THE MUMMY'S TOMB brought a surprisingly downbeat and decidedly unsentimental aura to the series.

Gone was the comedy relief, along with the exotic Egyptian setting itself, and with it the security of knowing that certain characters were immune from the Mummy's wrath.

This is powerfully illustrated early on as the Steve Banning character from the previous film (Dick Foran in old age makeup), now thirty years older and living in peaceful retirement in the quiet New England town of Mapleton, is visited in his bedroom one night by a vengeful and somewhat singed Kharis and strangled to death.

 

The next night his elderly sister Jane, whose misfortune is to be of the same bloodline as a defiler of the Princess Ananka's tomb, meets the same fate (in a scene that must've been rather shocking for audiences at the time). 

Finally, Steve Banning's old partner Babe (Wallace Ford), whose last name has somehow changed from Jensen to Hanson, hears the news and comes to Mapleton to pay his respects.  Sure enough, the Mummy runs into him that very night, corners him in an alley, and gives him the old five-finger chokeroo.

Even when I saw this as a kid, I was aghast that these familiar characters from the previous film were getting killed off--this was eighteen years before Janet Leigh's fatal shower in PSYCHO proved that no one was safe.

 

Well, Steve Banning's goofball son John (John Hubbard) survives and goes skipping merrily through the woods with his fiancee' Isobel (the lovely Elyse Knox, who happens to be actor Mark Harmon's mom) while the new current High Priest of Karnak, Mehemet Bey (Turhan Bey) scarfs an eyeload of her and falls head-over-heels in puppy love just like his predecessor.

So, using Kharis as a sort of proactive go-between, Bey orders him to kidnap Isobel and bring her to the cemetary where he works as caretaker so they can share tana-leaf cocktails and go sailing off into eternity together. Which doesn't seem quite right to Kharis, but he does it anyway (in later films he'll get righteously fed up with such tomfoolery).

This eventually brings the usual gang of torch-wielding villagers down upon them and, in a fiery finale, John rescues Isobel while the Mummy is trapped on the balcony of the Banning home as it goes up in flames.

 

One odd aspect of the story is that nobody ever sees Kharis at first, but they do manage to see his shadow.  So often, in fact, that people start calling the town sheriff to report a strange shadow lurking around. 

Making a return here is the "greyish mark...like mold" that's found on the throats of the victims.  Babe is tipped off by this clue right away although the police, of course, scoff at the idea of a living mummy.  Kharis also seems to have an endless supply of loose wrappings to leave hanging from bushes to mark his passing.  

Most importantly, THE MUMMY'S TOMB establishes Universal's new horror star, Lon Chaney, Jr., as the Mummy for the remaining three films in the series, and the tall, beefy actor is definitely the most intimidating incarnation of Kharis.

He's big, mean, and vengeful, and somehow Chaney is able to convey this through the rubber mask now used by Jack Pierce to create the character, with a combination of body language and hand gestures along with his imposing physique. In short, he looks terrific in the role.

The film itself is a lean one hour long, with a full eleven minutes devoted to a recap of the previous film as recounted by the aging Steve Banning to his disbelieving houseguests right before his final encounter with Kharis, and there's also the traditional passing of the baton from one High Priest to another.

This time, it's George Zucco again, who somehow survived being shot two or three times by Babe in THE MUMMY'S HAND and managed to keep his job after having failed so miserably, handing things over to the young Turhan Bey, who proves to be a not-so-great choice himself.

But somehow, even with its brief running time and generous padding, THE MUMMY'S TOMB manages to generate a good deal of solid monster-type entertainment.

It also adds a curious element to the series' timeline.  If THE MUMMY'S HAND takes place in the forties, then how come THE MUMMY'S TOMB, which is supposed to be about thirty years later, also takes place in the forties? Hmm...


Read our overview of the entire original Universal Mummy series

THE MUMMY (1932)
http://hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-mummy-1932-movie-review-by-porfle.html

THE MUMMY'S HAND (1940)
http://hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-mummys-hand-1940-movie-review-by.html

THE MUMMY'S TOMB (1942)
http://hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-mummys-tomb-1942-movie-review-by.html

THE MUMMY'S GHOST (1944)
http://hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-mummys-ghost-1944-movie-review-by.html

THE MUMMY'S CURSE (1944)
http://hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-mummys-curse-1944-movie-review-by.html

THE MUMMY'S HAND (1940) -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 3/17/17

 

Strangely enough, it took Universal eight whole years to get around to making a sequel to 1932's THE MUMMY with Boris Karloff. But in 1940, they finally came up with THE MUMMY'S HAND, which, as it turned out, had nothing to do with the original story.

This time, a couple of down-on-their-luck archeologists, the dashing Steve Banning (Dick Foran) and his pudgy comedy-relief sidekick "Babe" Jenson (Wallace Ford) are about ready to give up and leave Egypt when they stumble upon a clue that leads them to the ancient tomb of the Princess Ananka.

But the tomb is guarded by the undying mummy of Kharis, who, like Im-ho-tep, was mummified alive for sacrilege. In lieu of the Scroll of Thoth, however, Kharis is kept alive by the fluid of boiled tana leaves, given to him over the years by a succession of High Priests who are dedicated to preserving the sanctity of the princess' tomb.

 

The archeological expedition, which includes jovial financial-backer and stage magician The Great Solvani (the lovable Cecil Kelloway) and his no-nonsense daughter Marta (the even more lovable Peggy Moran), is menaced by the Mummy until Steve and Babe locate the High Priests' temple and, in the exciting finale, vanquish the evil Professor Andoheb, current High Priest of Karnak (George Zucco) and set fire to the Mummy.

By this time, Karloff had better things to do than shuffle around wrapped head-to-toe in gauze, so actor Tom Tyler took over the title role. Better known as the title character of one of the greatest serials ever made, 1941's THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, as well as a prolific Western star, Tyler brought an eerie presence to the role of the homicidal Kharis.

In the movie's trailer and in some of the wider shots of the film itself, Tyler's eyes are menacing and expressive, yet in his close-ups they're masked to appear solid black. Some prefer this and consider it scarier-looking, but I think he looks much more impressive without the special effect.

 

The scene of the Mummy coming to life before the horrified eyes of expedition member Dr. Petrie (Charles Trowbridge) and strangling him as the gloating Andoheb leers on is one of the high points of the entire series. 

This time the Mummy remains mute and leaves his wrappings on, thank goodness--no fez for Kharis--as will also be the case in the subsequent sequels.  Tyler also sports actual Jack Pierce facial makeup in his closeups, whereas Tyler's successor Lon Chaney, Jr. would appear solely in rubber masks fashioned for him by Pierce.

Other precendents for the future films are set here as well. THE MUMMY'S HAND begins with an old priest handing down his knowledge and responsibilities to a successor, and relating the history of Kharis and Princess Ananka through flashbacks from the first film.

 

Here, scenes from THE MUMMY are combined with new shots of Tom Tyler replacing those of Karloff to depict Kharis defiling the tomb of Princess Ananka and being condemned to a living death. This is a scenario we'll see again. Another is the discovery of "a greyish mark...like mold" on the throats of the Mummy's victims.

And finally, there's the inherently lovelorn and amorous nature of these new-model High Priests of Karnak, who just can't seem to keep their hands off the leading ladies.

George Zucco sets this precedent in motion by developing a high-school crush on the captive Peggy Moran and planning to give her and himself the old "hot tana-leaf injection" in a lavish set left over from James Whale's GREEN HELL (which adds immeasurably to the film's production values.) Will Steve and Babe show up just in time to stick a fork in his scheme?

Actually, the fact that these ace archeologists have failed until the last minute to discover a huge Egyptian temple on the other side of the hill from where they're encamped doesn't speak much for their abilities. Even their discovery of Kharis' tomb is the result of a lucky accident after Andoheb tries to kill them with dynamite.

With THE MUMMY'S HAND, the series was already double-bill fodder with a running time of only 67 minutes. Even so, the expedition doesn't even reach the desert until the halfway point, and the Mummy makes his initial appearance several minutes after that.

But the comedy bits and character scenes leading up to this point are fun, and once the action gets started it never stops. The cast is fine and the film as a whole is a polished, competent effort that stands on its own as one of the most likable horror films of the forties.

Read our overview of the entire original Universal Mummy series

THE MUMMY (1932)
http://hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-mummy-1932-movie-review-by-porfle.html

THE MUMMY'S HAND (1940)
http://hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-mummys-hand-1940-movie-review-by.html

THE MUMMY'S TOMB (1942)
http://hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-mummys-tomb-1942-movie-review-by.html

THE MUMMY'S GHOST (1944)
http://hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-mummys-ghost-1944-movie-review-by.html

THE MUMMY'S CURSE (1944)
http://hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-mummys-curse-1944-movie-review-by.html

CRIMINAL MINDS: THE FOURTH SEASON -- DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 8/29/09

 

The faces on the DVD cover won't mean much to first-time viewers, but it doesn't take long for us to get to know each member of this FBI profiling team (or "behavior analysis unit" as they're called) very well.

CRIMINAL MINDS: THE FOURTH SEASON hits the ground running with one of the most riveting and lightning-paced hours of television that I've ever seen. "Mayhem" is the conclusion of last season's cliffhanger, and it begins with unit chief Aaron 'Hotch' Hotchner (Thomas Gibson) and a female associate about to get into their vehicle when it explodes. Both survive, but since they've been investigating terrorists who explode one bomb and then set off a second one to kill any police and paramedics who arrive on the scene soon after, no one will move in to render aid to the dying female agent. When Hotch finally does get her to the nearest emergency room, he finds that he may have unwittingly played right into the terrorists' scheme to blow up the hospital.

This episode nicely fulfills the show's potential and demonstrates how exciting and suspenseful it can be, with sharp direction, camerawork, and editing and solid performances. Hotch, deftly played by Gibson, quickly emerges as my favorite character--he's stiff, serious, dry, almost humorless. He doesn't wisecrack. But he's intensely professional, with an innate compassion that drives him to hunt down killers. This devotion to his job has cost him his marriage, and in his most affecting moments Hotch can be seen in his office, wistfully viewing video of his young son on his computer.

"Masterpiece", directed by Paul Michael Glaser ("Starsky and Hutch") is another outstanding episode, this time showcasing Joe Mantegna's "David Rossi" character. Rossi is a veteran profiler who has become a celebrity via his best-selling books and lectures on the subject. Here, he goes one on one in the interrogation room with a narcissistic mastermind, played by Jason Alexander, who has kidnapped a daycare worker and four children and placed them in a death trap that will kill them all in a few hours. Not only does this give both Mantegna and Alexander a chance to show their stuff, but it also demonstrates how good the writing on this show can be, with a surprise turnaround in the final minutes that is stunning.

Although there's a resemblance here to CSI and similar shows, CRIMINAL MINDS concentrates less on forensics and more on the BAU's explorations into the inner workings of the perpetrators minds. Often this forces them to confront their own darkest thoughts and fears. In "The Instincts" and its follow-up "Memoriam", the team's geeky resident genius Dr. Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) encounters a child abduction case in his hometown that dredges up suppressed memories of bloody murder from his own childhood that may even involve his own father. Jane Lynch (A MIGHTY WIND, BEST IN SHOW) is great as Reid's schizophrenic mother, who stops taking her meds so that she can achieve a brief window of mental clarity that will help her recall forgotten details of the past.

Each of the other cast members gets the spotlight in various episodes, and they're all up to the task. Shemar Moore's ex-cop Derek Morgan is the show's action guy but there's a lot of substance to his character as well. In "Brothers In Arms", Morgan takes it personally when a serial shooter starts gunning down cops in the performance of their duty. A.J. Cook is Jennifer "J.J." Jareau, the team's liason with the public and other agencies, who gives birth early in the season and gains a different perspective on her job. In the excellent bio-terror thriller "Amplification", a deranged scientist unleashes a deadly new strain of anthrax on the public and J.J. struggles with the urge to break secrecy protocol and warn her husband to flee the city with their child.

Bringing some light into the dark mood of the series is Kirsten Vangsness as Penelope Garcia, happily basking in her computer world as she serves as the nerve center for the team. In episodes such as "House on Fire", the tale of a mass-murdering arsonist, and "To Hell...and Back", the gut-wrenching season finale, Garcia is forced to venture out into the field with the rest of the team and is horrified by what she sees.

When this show gets cranked up to full-blast, it goes like gangbusters. "Catching Out", directed by actor Charles Haid, contains a climactic fight sequence atop a moving freight train. "Normal" guest-stars Mitch Pileggi of "The X-Files" as a harried family man whose mounting frustrations transform him into a highway killer known as "The Road Warrior." This episode features a breathtaking crash stunt early on and ends with a high-speed chase.

In addition to the show's kinetic qualities, much of the drama is psychological in nature and we're frequently subjected to some pretty bizarre images and ideas. Jason Alexander returns to direct "Transformation", in which young men on spring break are being raped and murdered by an assailant whose gender is mysteriously undetermined. "Cold Comfort" deals with necrophilia complete with live embalmings, and features a great guest cast including Cybill Shepherd, Michael Biehn, Lolita Davidovitch, and Vondie Curtis Hall.

I particularly enjoyed seeing none other than Wil Wheaton (ST:TNG's "Ensign Crusher") as a total loon who owns a secluded motel and lures couples to their doom in deviously-designed death traps. This episode begins with one of the show's most awesome stunts--an 18-wheeler jack-knifing into a parked car. "Omnivore", guest-starring C. Thomas Howell, has one of the series' most evil serial killers who, among other atrocities, massacres the passengers of a city bus.

Of course, the series has its occasional clunker--for example, "Demonology", a turgid tale of a priest who performs lethal exorcisms, is tiresome and overwrought. It does, however, feature a welcome guest appearance by Bruce Davison (sporting some great hair) and offers series regular Paget Brewster a chance to shine as agent Emily Prentiss.

The DVD set contains seven discs in four slim-line cases with a cardboard sleeve. The 16 x 9 image and English 5.1 and stereo sound are good. Both the episodes and bonus features are closed-captioned. Extras include eleven brief behind-the-scenes featurettes called "Working the Scene", deleted scenes, profiles of each character, and a gag reel.

CRIMINAL MINDS is an interesting blend of modern and more traditional TV storytelling techniques. It's got all the flash and pizzazz that's expected of today's shows, but much of the melodrama and pathos beneath the veneer are pure old-school. As far as the subject matter goes, however, the show doesn't pull any punches and is often about as shocking and horrific as a show like this can get. With a top-notch cast, fine production values, and intriguing stories, CRIMINAL MINDS: THE FOURTH SEASON is well worth spending some quality time with.
 

HOTEL: THE FIRST SEASON -- DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 7/8/09

 

If you watched TV during the 80s, you pretty much knew what to expect when you saw Aaron Spelling's name in the credits. And with shows like "The Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island" having paid off so handsomely for the superstar producer, it's not surprising that he would take the same multi-guest star, multi-subplot formula and shove it into the setting of a bustling five-star hotel. As the taxicabs full of guests start pulling up out front, you almost expect Tattoo to ask, "Who's going to be staying with us next, Boss?"

Loosely based on Arthur Hailey's 1965 novel, "Hotel" premiered in 1983 and ran for 115 episodes. CBS/Paramount's new 6-disc set HOTEL: THE FIRST SEASON gives us the initial 22 episodes including the feature-length pilot, which sets the old formula in motion with all the usual elements: an ostentatious setting, in this case San Francisco's luxurious Saint Gregory Hotel; a regular cast of employees to interact with the guests; and a revolving-door parade of familiar up-and-comers, has-beens, character actors, and TV show drones to populate the various subplots which play themselves out with varying levels of interest. Through it all, the composers hired to slather music over all this schmaltz work the hell out of Henry Mancini's unctuous theme.

Much of the action occurs within the spacious lobby set, which is as delightfully gaudy and tacky as the show itself. James Brolin, as handsome hotel manager Peter McDermott, is the focal point for most of the dramatic events and is responsible for maintaining order and keeping everybody happy. Much better later in life as an older character actor, the young Brolin is rather unremarkable yet capable, and is a likable and comforting presence.

The same can be said of Connie Sellecca as his go-getter assistant Christine Francis. Nathan Cook is Billy Griffin, the hotel's security man who has a special understanding of the criminal mind since he's an ex-con himself. The beautiful Shari Belafonte is receptionist Julie Gillette, and the pleasantly bland Shea Farrell is Mark Danning, the hotel's guest relations director or something. Michael Spound and Heidi Bohay play Dave and Megan Kendall, a bellhop and desk clerk who are married but can never seem to find time in their busy day to spend together. This boring and mostly useless couple supplies the show with some of its more lame attempts at intentional humor, although the dramatic scenes are where the real laughs come from.

One of the highlights of the pilot episode is the casting of Hollywood legend Bette Davis as Mrs. Trent, the widow of the novel's hotel owner Warren Trent. Looking quite frail by this time, Bette still manages to give a strong, skilled performance. Sudden illness, however, would lead to her being replaced by another seasoned actress, Anne Baxter, as Mrs. Trent's half-sister Victoria Cabot. In Davis' absence, Baxter does her best to supply the Old Hollywood gloss that Spelling is aiming for with this series.

Indeed, much of what goes on in the St. Gregory would make fine fodder for the standard "women's pictures" that Hollywood used to churn out back in the 50s and 60s. Standing in for Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman in the premiere episode are Pernell Roberts and Shirley Jones as a recently divorced man and a woman toying with the notion of leaving her unfaithful husband. They meet-cute in the hotel bar and have one of those tender, tentative, and seemingly doomed September romances replete with hokey dialogue, tender gazes, walks in the park, and waves of maudlin music. Ross Hunter would be proud.

As you might guess, plenty of choice dialogue goes on elsewhere in the hotel. After Christine complains of a guest making amorous suggestions, Peter assures her: "Listen, I've had my share of female guests hitting on me...along with the males. Goes with the territory." In another scene, Anne Baxter shares champagne with old flame Stewart Granger along with the following exchange:

"I'd say our memories held up...rather well."
"If not our hearts."
"To recollections?"
"To expectations."

If it sounds as though I didn't enjoy watching "Hotel" very much, let me stress that I find Aaron Spelling's attempts to transfer the splendor of Old Hollywood into the super-cheesy world of 70s and 80s television to be perversely entertaining. And speaking of cheese, you haven't lived until you've seen the episode with Heather Locklear as a career beauty pageant contestant constantly being prodded by her mother, Connie Stevens, who feeds vicariously off her success. During a rehearsal session, we find that Heather's "talent" is--get this--a jolly fitness dance, complete with leg warmers.

But that's not all, because during her dance, we notice that she begins to change into a different person in the wide shots. That's right, in classic FLASHDANCE style, a stand-in does the actual dancing, boogeying her steel buns off while Heather shimmies her shoulders slightly or waves her arms to and fro in the closeups. They don't even try to hide the fact that there's a different person with totally different hair (not to mention totally different face!) in the wide shots. And to top it off, "Hollywood Squares" host Peter Marshall plays a lecherous contest judge with whom Heather must have sex in order to assure his vote. X gets the square! It's just too good to be true.

The lengthy guest roster for the first episode alone is enough to take a pop culture fan's breath away. Check it out: Morgan Fairchild, Lloyd Bochner, Jack Gilford, Shirley Jones, Pernell Roberts, Stephanie Faracy, Lainie Kazan, Bill Macy, Erin Moran, Alejandro Rey, notoriously awful former child star Lee Montgomery, and, last but not least, Mel Tormé. That's just one episode! Morgan Fairchild plays a hooker hired to devirginize a young high school boy and is then gang-raped by some of his classmates, giving her a chance to emote her head off while Brolin tries to persuade her to press charges. During a scene in which they're walking around discussing the matter, it suddenly occurred to me: "Oh my god...it's a montage!" Sure enough, the two are strolling on the beach, taking in Fisherman's Wharf, doing fun stuff, having a gay laugh or two...I almost expected them to start squirting hot dog mustard at each other.

A little "Love Boat"-style comedy relief comes in the form of Lainie Kazan as a wife who so horribly henpecks husband Bill Macy that he runs away and becomes a banjo player in a ragtime band. But as far as laughs are concerned, this can't come close to Erin Moran as an aspiring singer who gets her big break performing in the lounge with Mel Torme'. When he makes the momentous introduction and invites her to join him onstage after his awesome set, with the audience primed with anticipation, what timeless lyrical standard does she launch into? "Delta Dawn." I am not making that up.

The wide-open format even takes us into thriller territory as Connie Sellecca's Christine finds herself being terrorized by Richard Hatch as a crazed stalker with access to her suite. Robert "Mike Brady" Reed pops up as an enraged father whose daughter claims that a hotel-provided babysitter (Leigh McCloskey) has molested her. In the same episode, Dack Rambo and Michelle Phillips fulfill the show's daily minimum romance requirement as strangers who hit it off and have sex--after which she discovers that he's a priest. Oops! A comedy segment that's actually kind of funny has Dick Van Patten as a mild-mannered guest whom bellhop Dave mistakes for a famous hotel critic, thus ensuring that the delighted dweeb receives the royal treatment during every minute of his stay.

The guest line-ups for the rest of the episodes are smaller than in the premiere movie, but seeing who's going show up next is still one of the most fun things about "Hotel." Some of the likely and unlikely faces appearing in this set include Robert Vaughn (in drag, no less!), Shelley Winters, Lew Ayres, Sally Kellerman, Robert Stack, José Ferrer, Howard Duff, Jean Simmons, Elinor Donahue, Carol Lynley, Robert Hooks, Leigh Taylor-Young, Peggy Cass, Craig Stevens, Donald O'Connor, Eleanor Parker, Ron Ely, Hermione Gingold, Tom Smothers, Nanette Fabray, Vera Miles, Arte Johnson, George Lazenby, McLean Stevenson, Kay Lenz, Danielle Brisebois, Christoper Norris, Markie Post, Bradford Dillman, and Melissa Sue Anderson.

The list continues with Army Archerd (playing himself, as usual), Liberace (also as himself, God help us), Jane Wyatt, Lynn Redgrave, Patty McCormack, Paul Burke, Roy Thinnes, Steve Forrest, Hope Lange, Adrienne Barbeau, Margaret O'Brien, Donna Pescow, Vic Tayback, pint-sized femme fatale Charlene Tilton, John McIntyre, Jeanette Nolan, Tori Spelling (big surprise), Scott Baio, Diane Canova, Dina Merrill, Rebecca Balding, Cathy Lee Crosby, Bo Hopkins, WKRP's Jan Smithers, Eva Gabor, Louis Jourdan, and Englebert Humperdinck as singing sensation "Danny Maxwell." As you can see, this set is jam-packed with familiar faces for those of us interested in such things.

The set has no bonus features. Picture quality is generally good although the openings are a bit speckly as are a few other occasional spots. Not enough to bother me any, but nitpickier viewers may be annoyed.

While there are some storylines here and there that manage to generate actual dramatic interest (the one in which Jan Smithers shows up with a little boy and tells Peter that he's the father is an attention-getter), much of the melodrama on this show can't be taken seriously--it's such old-fashioned, over-the-top soap opera, played in such a deadly earnest manner, that it seems to dare you not to either laugh yourself silly or keel over in a stupor. Yet HOTEL: THE FIRST SEASON, with all its chintzy opulence, is so bald-faced straightforward in its intentions that it rates a luxury suite in the "So Bad It's Good" wing of the TV Land Hotel.
 

JAKE AND THE FATMAN: SEASON TWO -- DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/14/09

 

"Jake and the Fatman" was never one of my favorite series--it came along when I was losing interest in sitting around watching "old people" shows with my mom and dad. But now that I'm older myself, I'm beginning to enjoy hunkering down to watch stuff like this on DVD.

With ten episodes on three discs, JAKE AND THE FATMAN: SEASON TWO begins with a two-parter that explains why veteran district attorney J.L. "Fatman" McCabe and his police detective partner Jake Styles have suddenly moved their operation from Los Angeles to Honolulu, Hawaii. It all has to do with the murder of Jake's former-cop friend, who conveniently wills his awesome beachfront pad to Jake. McCabe zips over to the island (which, incidentally, is his old stomping ground) to help Jake track down the evil hitman who did it, and before you know it Honolulu's District Attorney (James Karen), who's itching to retire, ropes McCabe into taking his place! All that's left is for them to transport the Fatman's young assistant Derek (Alan Campbell) and his beloved bulldog Max across the big water, and before you can say "aloha" the team is complete.

The real story for the move (according to IMDb) is that after "Magnum, P.I." went off the air, CBS still had its Hawaii studio sitting around gathering dust. So they revived "Jake and the Fatman" (which had been cancelled after one season) and relocated the characters to the sandy shores of Honolulu. This proved to be just the shot in the arm that the show needed and it continued for a full five seasons, later returning to L.A. when CBS' lease on the Hawaii studio expired.

The show looks like the usual network drama from its era, with production values that range from good to a bit iffy, but the tropical location is a perfect backdrop for the casual, laidback atmosphere of the series. In fact, once you get used to the leisurely pace and start liking these characters, it's a fun "hang-out" show in which the plots aren't all that important. Even so, the stories are involving enough, and occasionally offer some strong dramatic moments along with the usual hokum. There are times, in fact, when the acting and writing come together in such a way that you may be a bit taken aback by how good a scene is--and this happens often enough to keep the show consistently interesting.

I was especially surprised at how much I liked Joe Penny as Jake. What a good actor he is here--handling the cool action stuff competently (without the usual martial arts or clever quips), while still coming across as a regular guy. A skilled actor, Penny's low-key approach to the role works very well, especially in contrast to his more flamboyant co-star. J.L. "Fatman" McCabe is a classic William Conrad character in the tradition of "Cannon." Conrad's so good I could watch him in anything, and this show gives him a chance to do what he does best, which is to be himself. As his assistant Derek, Alan Campbell adds a little comedy relief due to his love-hate relationship with McCabe but remains a believable character who is helpful in their investigations.

The guest stars range from great to not-so-good, with few of the familiar character actors who so often grace the older classic TV shows. The initial two-parter features old pro James Karen as the outgoing D.A. and Amy Steel of FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 in a cringe-inducingly bad performance. Some of the few recognizable actors in later episodes include Khigh Dhiegh (Wo Fat of "Hawaii Five-O"), Ben Piazza, Alex Cord, Lenore Kasdorf, Ramon Bieri, Frederick Coffin (LONESOME DOVE's Big Swede), and Charlie Brill.

The "I'll Never Smile Again" episode, which is somewhat reminiscent of DEATH WISH, contains two truly remarkable performances, one from David Schramm as a mugging victim who may not be all that innocent, and the other from a young Brigid Conley Walsh (who has since had quite a prolific television career) as his troubled daughter. Both are outstanding and help make this one of the high points of the collection. Another notable episode is "Why Can't You Behave?" (you may have noticed that all the titles are from old blues songs) in which McCabe is forced to choose between protecting his crooked, weaselly son Daniel (Tom Isbell) and upholding the law. The episode also features a nice cameo from bluesman Clarence Clemons.

Michele Scarabelli and Patricia Sill are very good as cops' wives whose husbands are cut down in the line of duty in "They Can't Take That Away From Me." The final episode in the set, "Snowfall", is an exciting yarn about cocaine and counterfeit money which contains a couple of blazing shoot-outs and features a young Michael Madsen.

The DVD set contains no extras. Production values vary, so the image quality isn't always that sharp. Old pros such as Bernard L. Kowalski, Jackie Cooper, and Don Medford are on hand to direct. The musical score is often nicely jazz-tinged, and while I wasn't very impressed the first time I heard Dick DeBenedictis' main theme, it really started to grow on me after a few listens.

I wasn't expecting much from this set, but JAKE AND THE FATMAN: SEASON TWO turned out to be quite a lot of fun to watch. William Conrad at his best, a dynamic Joe Penny, and those gorgeous Hawaiian locations add up to several hours worth of solid entertainment.

 

 

CANNON: SEASON 2, VOLUME ONE -- DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 5/29/09

 

If you're old enough to remember when "Cannon" first hit the airwaves, you'll know that Cannon's big schtick was that he was fat. That's right--in a world of bald detectives, old detectives, nerdy detectives, Hawaiian detectives, eccentric millionaire detectives, and even the occasional sexy detectives, Cannon was The Fat Detective. In fact, Sonny and Cher even did a spoof of the show once called "Detective Fat."

William Conrad's deep, booming voice had gained him fame on the radio as Marshall Matt Dillon in "Gunsmoke", but when the show migrated to television, Conrad was deemed--you guessed it--too fat to play the character. So in 1971, CBS finally made it up to Conrad by concocting a character specifically tailored for him. One whose most distinctive characteristic was the fact that he was--drumroll, please--fat. ("Jake and the Fatman", which just came right out and said it right there in the title, would come later.)

But was the show itself "phat"? This new 3-disc DVD set, CANNON: SEASON TWO, VOLUME ONE, provides ample evidence that it was indeed pretty good. Not great, mind you--the production values are a little iffy at times, and the overall look of the show is somewhat low-rent--but definitely not without its charms. The main one of these, of course, being the big guy himself.

William Conrad was an easygoing, engaging screen presence who could elevate a pedestrian script and make the most of whatever character moments he was given. His "Frank Cannon" is a tough but affable ex-cop who "tends toward the gut" (as John Wayne put it in THE COWBOYS) but doesn't let that stop him from being an action-oriented kind of guy. When the need arises, Cannon uses that extra weight to push bad guys around and can level a mean karate chop with those ham hands of his. He's handy with a gun, too, and rest assured there's lots of gunplay in this series. As a card-carrying private dick, he can also spout some of that hardboiled dialgue when needed, as in one scene in which a blue-haired Patrick O'Neal finds him difficult to bribe:

"What is it with you? Why are you so hard to do business with?"
"Maybe because we don't deal in the same coin."

Another element in the show's excitement factor is Cannon's beautiful Lincoln Continental Mark IV, which I like to call "the Fatmobile." Whenever a fleeing suspect is speeding away, Cannon hops into this awesome land-yacht and participates in that holiest of 70s cop-show cliches, the car chase. CANNON has a car chase in just about every other episode, because they can always be counted upon to liven up even the blandest script. One episode has three carloads of baddies chasing Cannon through the Los Angeles River and features some satisfying fender-bending action along the way. In another, we even see him chasing a backhoe in a pickup truck down a dirt road. This guy'll chase anything.

Plotwise, we find the standard procession of guest characters seeking Cannon's help for various reasons. Some are wrongly accused of murder, while others have more unusual needs for his services. The scripts are mostly pretty involving although light on any kind of real, hard-hitting drama. This was one of my dad's favorite shows, and the networks' goal back then was to offer this kind of familiar, easy-to-take programming to older viewers like him who just wanted to kick back with some boob-tube after work and didn't care for all the preachy "relevant" stuff currently being aimed at the young folks. Heck, I can relate to that.

The Quinn-tessential 70s-era Quinn Martin production, CANNON fulfills that requirement very well with the kind of scripts that could've been passed around amongst any number of TV flatfoots with only a few details changed (and probably were). What makes the show unique is the main character himself. William Conrad is supremely relaxed and confident in the role, and seems to enjoy playing it. (If you ever get to see some of the show's bloopers, they'll attest to his funny, lighthearted attitude during filming.) He likes interacting with his guest stars, whether tickling the ivories in a bar for Sheree North or sparring with Marj Dusay in the kitchen over whether or not to add milk to his omelet recipe. A gourmet with discerning tastes, Cannon is often seen whipping up fine cuisine or dining out with the likes of Jessica Walter.

In one episode, he spends so much time at the police station doggedly pouring over mug shots in search of a suspect that he actually has to skip a few meals. When at last he pinpoints the right picture, Cannon frantically grabs the phone away from a detective and delivers an urgent directive: "I need the numbers of all the delicatessens in the area that deliver!"

One of the show's best qualities is that it doesn't always take place in a grungy urban setting or some overused backlot. Cannon may be a variation of the standard gumshoe character, but he likes to get out and enjoy the wide-open spaces once in a while. In "The Predators" (with guest stars Phyllis Thaxter and fanboy heartthrob Pamela Franklin), we're treated to some breathtaking northern California settings. "Stakeout" finds Cannon soaring through the skies in a glider with Belinda Montgomery, while "Sky Above, Death Below" allows him to shoot a few bad guys on a scenic mountaintop. This goes a long way toward making up for the sometimes low-budget look of the show.

Other guest stars of interest include Michael Tolan, Severn Darden, Leslie Charleson, Richard Hatch, Ken Lynch, Lloyd Bochner, Scott Hylands, Jesse Vint, Robert Webber, Mike Farrell, Frank Maxwell, 50s genre icon Kenneth Tobey, Dana Elcar, Charles Cyphers, James A. Watson, Sandy Kenyon, Tracy Reed, George Maharis, Stefanie Powers, Jeanne Bates, Kathleen Freeman, Clue Gulager, Julie Adams, H.M. Wynant, Lois Nettleton, Bert Freed, William Daniels, Linden Chiles, Alex Rocco, Carl Betz, Andrew Duggan, Olan Soule, Katherine Justice, and even former Monkee, Mickey Dolenz.

John Parker's familiar "Cannon" theme leads us into the first twelve episodes of the second season in this set. The pictorial quality is good considering that the show never looked all that great to begin with. The sole bonus feature is an option to view episodes with the original pre-titles teasers, which are simply brief montages of upcoming scenes. If I remember correctly, these were originally a regular part of the show.

CANNON: SEASON TWO, VOLUME ONE isn't quite on par with the best that classic television has to offer, but it's still an above-average and fun example of the 70s detective show. Just the thing for when you feel like gorging on some tasty junk food for the brain.

PETTICOAT JUNCTION: THE OFFICIAL SECOND SEASON -- DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 6/28/09

 

Pretty much all I remember about "Petticoat Junction" from my younger days is that, of the two interrelated rural sitcoms taking place in the tiny hick town of Hooterville, "Green Acres" was the hilarious, surreal, wildly inventive one. "Petticoat Junction", the story of widow Kate Bradley, her three beautiful daughters, and her lazy-but-lovable Uncle Joe, who ran the rustic Shady Rest hotel, was low-key, homespun stuff for the sedate older crowd who didn't mind heapin' helpin's of corn along with their entertainment.

With CBS/Paramount's 5-disc, 36-episode DVD set PETTICOAT JUNCTION: THE OFFICIAL SECOND SEASON, I'm finding out that I don't mind it all that much myself. Talk about laidback--watching this show is almost like actually taking a vacation at the Shady Rest. Where "Green Acres" is frenetic and cartoonlike, this show is about as relaxing and down-to-earth as a barefoot stroll to the old fishin' hole. When the opening titles roll, the urban jungle might as well be on Mars as the Cannonball, an antique train that placidly shuttles Hooterville's scattered inhabitants to and fro, pulls up to the water tank where Kate's daughters Billie Jo, Bobbi Jo, and Betty Jo are taking a swim with their petticoats hanging over the side as Curt Massey's familiar theme song sets the mood.

One of the advantages of a show like this is that its main stars are great comic actors who play this stuff with the skill and timing of seasoned pros. Bea Benederet preceeded June Foray as the go-to female voice artist in the early Warner Brothers cartoons and later supplied the voice of Betty Rubble in "The Flintstones", in addition to playing George Burns and Gracie Allen's next-door neighbor Blanche on radio and television. "The Beverly Hillbillies" creator Paul Henning cast her as Jed Clampett's cousin Pearl Bodine in that show's early seasons, where her comic talents were sharper than ever. So it was only natural that when Henning created "Petticoat Junction" he would envision Bea Benederet in the lead role of Kate Bradley.

Kate's lazy Uncle Joe is played by screen veteran Edgar Buchanan (SHANE, RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY), who is a pleasure to watch as his character constantly schemes to avoid work and get rich quick. He claims to be an expert on everything, such as the time he boasts to a visiting commercial director of the acclaim he once received for his "eight milligram" film of a sackrace at the local picnic. In another episode, he buys a flea-bitten buffalo (actually a bull in a buffalo suit) and convinces an English lord that the Shady Rest is a hunting lodge where he can shoot all the buffalos he wants for the right price. Then he arranges for the girls to hustle the buffalo to different stops along the Cannonball's line so that the Englishman (whose gun is loaded with blanks) will think he's bagging his limit. When he starts to smell a rat, he exclaims, "This situation demands an explanation!", to which the ever-crafty Uncle Joe responds, "It sure does. Let's hear it!"

Various supporting characters common to both shows appear regularly, although they're not quite as bizarre here as they are on "Green Acres." They include Frank Cady's genial general store owner Sam Drucker and Hank Patterson as pig farmer Fred Ziffel, who dotes on his beloved pig Arnold. Playing the Bradley girls are original "Billie Jo" and "Bobbie Jo" Jeannine Riley and Pat Woodell (Riley would later be replaced by Gunilla Hutton and Meredith MacRae, while Lori Saunders would soon take Pat Woodell's place) and Paul Henning's daughter Linda Kaye Henning as tomboy Betty Jo. Despite their more limited comedic skills, they're a major asset to the show on a visual level, especially the stunning Woodell. (For some reason, she's absent from certain episodes and is replaced by an obvious stand-in, as in "Smoke Eaters.")

Another great film veteran, the ubiquitous Charles Lane, plays villainous Homer Bedloe, a railroad executive whose main goal in life is to shut down the Cannonball and put Kate out of business. ("I wouldn't trust him within a ten-foot pole," Uncle Joe remarks.) Rufe Davis is the tiny train's delightfully dimwitted conductor, Floyd Smoot, while the slightly-less-stupid engineer, Charley Pratt, is played by none other than the great B-western sidekick, Smiley Burnette. Last but not least, the amazing canine performer Higgins, who would go on to become the immortal BENJI, is introduced in the first episode of the set, "Betty Jo's Dog", a variation on the classic "But it just followed me home!" story. As Uncle Joe puts it in a later episode, "he incinerated himself into our affections."

At times the show skirts the boundaries of "Green Acres"-style surrealism. "A Matter of Communication" has Uncle Joe trying to create his own telephone company using the farmers' barbed wire fences as phone wires, which results in some of the biggest laughs of the season. "The Curse of Chester W. Farnsworth" is a ghost story about a former guest (Doodles Weaver) whose spirit can't rest until he's replaced all the towels he stole from various hotels during his life.

In "Bedloe's Nightmare", Kate Bradley's nemesis actually ends up tied to the front of the speeding Cannonball and terrorized until he agrees to drop his latest dastardly scheme. "For the Birds", which features the age-old sitcom device of a bird unexpectedly building its nest in an inconvenient place (in this case, the Cannonball's smokestack), zips through a lot of exposition in amusing style when the episode suddenly turns into a silent movie for a few minutes, complete with speeded-up film, melodramatic acting, and intertitles.

Marc Lawrence and former Ted Healy replacement-stooge Mousie Garner guest star in "The Hooterville Crime Wave" as escaped killers who take the Bradleys hostage. Other notable guests during this season include Bert Freed, Sig Ruman, Alan Mowbray, Grady Sutton, Dick Wessell, Stanley Adams, Lurene Tuttle, Parley Baer, Percy Helton, Willis Bouchey (THE HORSE SOLDIERS), Milt Frome, Iris Adrian, George "George Jetson" O'Hanlon, and Don Megowan. Semi-regulars include Frank Ferguson (ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN) as Doc Stuart, Virginia Sale as Kate's hatchet-faced rival Selma Plout, and the always creepy William O'Connell as Homer Bedloe's slimy toady, Evans.

These episodes are in gorgeous black-and-white and look just about pristine. The photography is exquisite, and is quite a stark contrast to the garish color episodes that would begin immediately after this season. As a bonus, each episode is introduced by original stars Linda Kaye Henning ("Betty Jo") and Pat Woodell ("Bobbie Jo") as they appear today. The two also take part in a 38-minute interview session in which they reminisce about the making of the show. A brief photo montage follows.

The opening lyric to the show's theme song goes: "Forget about your cares, it is time to relax at the junction." Watching PETTICOAT JUNCTION: THE OFFICIAL SECOND SEASON is like sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch of the Shady Rest, listening for the Cannonball's whistle coming around the bend. Not really all that exciting, but a very nice way to pass the time.
 

NCIS: THE SIXTH SEASON -- DVD review by porfle

Originally posted on 8/14/09

 

 

Thanks to the magic of DVD, I've been discovering some pretty awesome TV shows lately that I probably never would've run across otherwise. For one thing, I can no longer handle commercial breaks, especially since they're longer and more frequent than ever before. Also, I hate watching one episode a week--if I like a show, I want to be able to indulge myself in it until the wheels fall off. That's how it was with NCIS: THE SIXTH SEASON, a 6-disc, 25-episode set that I went through faster than Rosie O'Donnell with a box of Ring Dings.

My first impression of this series about a team of agents for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service was that it was going to be a dour, melodramatic show, but it's anything but. The stories rarely stop dead in their tracks to include "comedy relief" scenes as the wit and humor are usually well integrated with the serious stuff. Even though the subject matter is always grim, with an abundance of dead bodies in various states of graphic injury or decay, the interplay among the lead characters is almost non-stop lighthearted fun--sometimes even laugh-out-loud funny. Yet the stories still manage to maintain an aura of gravitas and believability that can veer headlong into raw, dead-serious drama at any moment.

Mark Harmon has probably his best role ever as Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, team leader and father figure for the family-like team of agents. He's a tough, no-nonsense, seemingly infallible agent who inspires utmost respect and even awe in his co-workers but, despite his gruff exterior, is always supportive of them. An ex-Marine, his history includes all sorts of shadowy Black Ops-type stuff and other mysterious events that sometimes bob to the surface during a case.

In the episode "Heartland", circumstances lead the team to Gibbs' hometown where they're delighted to actually find out details of his past including getting to meet his semi-estranged father, Jack (Ralph Waite). Stories like this play up Gibbs' human side, as does "Deliverance", an inner-city gang drama in which we find that he may be the father of a teenaged gangbanger who's stealing military assault weapons to sell on the street.

Character interaction is a major element of what makes NCIS tick. Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) is prom-king handsome but acts like a mischievous kid with a narcissistic streak. He loves movies, women, sucking up to his superiors, and himself. DiNozzo also enjoys picking on semi-dorky computer genius Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) and pointing out his geekier qualities at every opportunity.

Both men harbor unrequited romantic fantasies for their strikingly beautiful partner, Officer Ziva David (the strikingly beautiful Cote de Pablo), an Israeli whose war-ravaged upbringing has made her capable of taking care of herself in rough situations. DiNozzo is on hand to help Ziva learn to lighten up and do goofy stuff, like competing in an online air-guitar contest. A funny running gag is her ongoing effort to learn American colloquialisms (she refers to a turf war as a "Smurf war.")

The delightfully cute forensic scientist Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette) is a brilliant but extremely eccentric Goth chick who loves her work and can solve any problem as long as she's kept adequately supplied with super-sized containers of "Caf-Pow!" Any visit to Abby's lab is a treat as she giddily spouts more technobabble than half a season of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" while rattling off factoids about sexually-active molds or the difference between Satanic pentagrams and the hubcaps on a Buick Skylark. Rounding out the cast is the venerable David McCallum ("The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", THE GREAT ESCAPE) as Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard, the urbane and endlessly erudite medical examiner who's always up to his elbows in cadavers.

Season six gets off to a great start with a mini-story arc about the dispersal of Gibbs' regular team and their replacement with relative novices. At first, this decision seems unnecessarily arbitrary on the part of by-the-book NCIS Director Leon Vance (an intensely effective Rocky Carroll), but it's eventually revealed that Vance suspects one of the three new agents of treason and is hoping that Gibbs will be able to sort out the culprit. Liza Lapira as Special Agent Michelle Lee and Jonathan LaPaglia as Special Agent Brent Langer are very good in this suspenseful storyline which covers several episodes before coming to a nail-biting surprise conclusion.

Computer whiz McGee gets out of the office on a solo assignment for a change in "Caged", only to find himself a hostage during a riot in a women's prison. In "Bounce", an old case in which DiNozzo put an innocent man behind bars for three years comes back to haunt him when the people involved start turning up dead. Since it's his case, Gibbs temporarily puts DiNozzo in charge of the team, leading to all sorts of seriocomic complications.

David McCallum's "Ducky" gets his own episode with "Broken Bird", a story of torture and guilt that starts out promisingly but turns a little too turgid for my tastes. "Knockout", a story that spotlights Rocky Carroll as Director Vance, gets similarly bogged down in melodrama as he returns to his hometown of Chicago on an unauthorized mission involving the death of a childhood boxing hero.

These lapses are rare, however, and the four episodes on disc six begin another story arc which contains some of the most riveting television I've ever seen. It involves a rogue Mossad agent in the U.S. and Ziva's possible romantic connection to him, which may have compromised her loyalty to NCIS. The paranoia is knee-deep and the twists and turns will keep you on the edge of your seat right up until the shocking season finale cliffhanger (I hate those). Rocky Carroll, Michael Weatherly, and especially Cote de Pablo are outstanding in these episodes, with the Ziva character becoming the focal point for a maelstrom of intrigue.

Almost insanely entertaining at times, most of the plots move so fast you practically need to be strapped in. Very rarely does an episode slow down long enough to give the viewer a chance to even think about getting restless or bored. And visually, this series has style to burn with cinematography that is consistently beautiful.

The DVD set consists of six discs in three slimline cases with a cardboard cover. The 16 x 9 image and 5.1 Dolby Digital sound are fine. Closed captioning for the hearing impaired is available. Each disc contains its own bonus feature. These are:

Disc one: Brian Dietzen, who plays Dr. Mallard's assistant Jimmy Palmer, takes us on a fascinating tour of the special effects shop where the show's realistic dead bodies are made in the featurette "Bodies of Work."

Disc two: Pauley Perrette performs an acoustic version of her song "Fear", which is featured in one of the show's episodes.

Disc three: "Starting With a Bang" covers the making of the season's opening story arc.

Disc four: David McCallum and director James Whitmore Jr. do a commentary track for "Broken Bird", while Michael Weatherly supplies a gut-busting stream-of-consciousness narration of his big episode, "Bounce", in which we learn that he was four months' pregnant during filming.

Disc five: Featurette "Horsin' Around" is a look at the filming of episode "South by Southwest" on location around the famous Vasquez Rocks in California. There's also a lighthearted commentary by Pauley Perrette and Sean Murray for the Abby episode entitled "Toxic."

Disc six: "Season Six: Cruisin' Along" and "Six Degrees of Conversation" examine all the elements that make the sixth season so special. The latter features the entire cast in an interview setting.

NCIS: THE SIXTH SEASON is a stellar collection of episodes from a series that seems to be hitting its stride with no signs of slowing down or running out of steam. With an excellent cast, superb writing, and top-notch production values, it's pure, unadulterated escapism of the highest order.

 

CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION: THE NINTH SEASON -- DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 8/25/09

 

The grandaddy of all those forensic detective shows with all the dead bodies and blood and guts and brains and other gooey stuff, all being searched and sifted and nitpicked for clues in homicides and other violent deaths, is...QUINCY? Okay, that groundbreaking Jack Klugman classic was old school forensic fun, but these days the big cheese in the cops 'n' corpses sweepstakes is CSI. And if CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION: THE NINTH SEASON is any indication, the show seems to be holding up rather well in its old age.

This 6-disc, 24-episode DVD set is non-stop entertainment. Set in Las Vegas, the show follows the exploits of a crack CSI team consisting of both field agents and lab rats, combining their talents to solve a wide variety of mysterious deaths. As always, it's fascinating to see how even the smallest and most seemingly insignificant clues, whether found at the scene of a crime or during an autopsy of the victim, can lead to breaking a case. And when the painstaking lab work yields answers, the field agents go into action.

As most CSI fans know, this is the season in which longtime star William Petersen finally ends his run as beloved chief consultant and father figure Gil Grissom. Petersen, long one of my favorite actors thanks to films such as MANHUNTER and TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A., hangs around for the first half of the season as his character makes the agonizing decision to quit the dead body business and resume his romance with former team member Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox). Grissom's final episode is a tad maudlin at times but these characters have such a long and rich history together that it's still pretty moving.

His departure sets the stage for a new big-name addition to the cast--Laurence Fishburne as Dr. Ray Langston. Fishburne has evolved to the point where he can now play a distinguished, mild-mannered older gentleman with the same authority as Morpheus in THE MATRIX or that skinny city kid in APOCALYPSE NOW. His Dr. Langston joins the team with an eager intellectual fascination coupled with an endearing lack of experience and finesse, and Fishburne makes him an interesting and likable character.

With the emotional loss of Warrick (Gary Dourdan) last season, the first episode concludes his story as the team makes it a priority to track down his killer. His replacement is yet another new castmember, Lauren Lee Smith as the independent and somewhat abrasive Riley Adams. Her character is supposed to shake things up a bit, but it doesn't take long for Riley to settle in and get with the program. Maybe next season she'll be more disruptive--there are signs of a growing procedural conflict with Langston.

Marg Helgenberger's Catherine Willows moves easily into the positon of team leader and makes it her own. George Eads, a favorite of mine ever since he played "Shorty" in the TV remake of MONTE WALSH, is very good as solid, dependable field agent Nick Stokes. Lab rats Hodges (Wallace Langham), Simms (the beautiful Liz Vassey), and Johnson (Archie Kao) provide most of the show's comic interplay while coroner Dr. Robbins (Robert David Hall, STARSHIP TROOPERS) is the resident curmudgeon. Paul Guilfoyle (L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, AIR FORCE ONE) is fine as veteran cop Captain Jim Brass.

The look of the show is a major factor in its appeal. Whereas you'd probably expect real-life CSI investigators to process their data in brightly-lit and nondescript offices and labs, here we find a dark, stylized environment so sleek and modern it could almost pass for a dance club, or maybe even the science deck of a starship. Black and blue (appropriately) dominate, highlighted with glowing warm and cool colors.

An interesting visual element is the way the camera zooms in and gives us close-up views of whatever evidence is being discussed. Often we find ourselves on microscopic tours through a victim's body, or sharing a plastic bag with a discarded cadaver to observe its time-lapse decomposition. With all the egghead techno-blab flying fast and furious, these visual aids are a big help in understanding what the hell the characters are talking about.

The tightly-written scripts are consistently compelling. Gleanne Hedley guest stars in "The Happy Place" as a hypnotist using her abilities for dark purposes. In "Art Imitates Life", Jeffrey Tambor gives one of his wonderfully oddball performances as an eccentric artist who may be involved with a series of bizarre "murder-as-art" crimes. Other episodes deal with such topics as S&M, reality talent programs, murder by toothpaste, skydiving sabotage, religious cults, and rabies.

In "Turn, Turn, Turn", George Eads gets his own episode as Stokes handles numerous cases occuring at the same seedy motel over the course of a year, all involving a troubled young girl (Taylor Swift). "Mascara", a weird tale of Mexican wrestlers and a series of murders involving a particular deadly chokehold, is the 200th episode and is directed by William Friedkin (THE EXORCIST, THE FRENCH CONNECTION), who worked with William Petersen in TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.

The two episodes which introduce Dr. Langston, "19 Down..." and "One to Go", are noteworthy as we get to see Fishburne and Petersen working together to solve Grissom's final case. It involves an imprisoned serial killer (Bill Irwin) who is somehow relaying instructions for murder to an admiring copycat killer on the outside. Matt O'Leary of FRAILTY also appears as a suspect and turns up again in a later episode.

One of the weirdest episodes, "A Space Oddity", is reminiscent of GALAXY QUEST as it focuses on the obsessive fans of a fictitious TREK-like series called "Astro Quest." Hodges and Simms run into each other at a sci-fi convention and discover a common nerd-dom that the lovesick Hodges hopes will blossom into love. The fact that a murder takes place at the convention takes a back seat to his fevered fantasies in which he's the dashing starship captain and Simms is either the beautiful yeoman, the naive alien girl who doesn't know about love (shades of Angelique Pettyjohn in "The Gamesters of Triskelion"), or the exotic belly-dancing animal woman who's right out of "The Cage." The reproductions of various "Star Trek" episodes are fun (though much cheesier than the actual show), and Liz Vassey is gorgeous enough in her different costumes to burn out any space geek's dilythium crystals.

The DVD set is very attractively packaged with the same dark, sleek look of the show. There are six discs with four episodes per disc. 16.9 image and 5.1 Dolby Digital are very good. English and Spanish stereo are also available. Special features include some brief deleted scenes for some episodes, and cast and crew commentaries for "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "A Space Oddity." There are also four featurettes: "Crime Scene Initiation", "Rats in Space", "From Zero to 200 in Nine Seasons", and "Goodbye Grissom." Dr. Langston's first case, "The Grave Shift", is accompanied by a text trivia option.

Not quite as flashy or fast-moving as some of the shows that have bobbed up in its wake, CSI is a rock-solid, effortlessly absorbing whodunnit whose intriguing mysteries and imaginative plot twists will keep you guessing until the final minutes. The only downside to watching this set is that I've had that damn catchy theme song, "Who Are You?" by The Who, stuck in my head for a week and it's driving me nuts.

THE UNTOUCHABLES: SEASON 3, VOLUME 1 -- DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 8/19/09

 

If you've only seen the nostalgia-hued, touchy-feely DePalma film, you might be surprised to find that the classic TV series on which it was based was way more powerful and dark. As THE UNTOUCHABLES: SEASON 3, VOLUME 1 demonstrates, it was one of the most hardboiled, violent, adult crime series that ever hit the airwaves.

Robert Stack is perfectly cast as the four-square lawman Eliot Ness and seems to revel in playing one of TV's toughest and most incorruptible characters. As much as I like Kevin Costner's interpretation, the physically-imposing Stack looks much more hardcore and intimidating to the typical cowardly underworld figure.

We don't get to find out much if anything about his personal life or those of his crew--their job is to take down the bad guys, and their lives revolve around that job. It's as though they exist only to tirelessly battle organized crime in Chicago. As for comedy relief or lighthearted banter, the dead-serious nature of the show leaves precious little room for such things. This is further emphasized by famed radio newscaster Walter Winchell's distinctively straight-faced narration and a somber musical score (some of the same cues were used in George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD).

The Desilu backlot is the perfect backdrop for the show's self-contained film noir fantasy world populated by hardbitten cops (both honest and dirty), cowering civilians, and an endlessly fascinating rogue's gallery of ruthless crime bosses and their trigger-happy gunsels. Bruce Gordon glowers and growls as the imprisoned Al Capone's surly surrogate, Frank Nitti, who rules Chicago's underworld with an iron hand. Several episodes involve Nitti's attempts to import and distribute illegal booze and narcotics while Ness and his men work to cut off his supply or nab his top capos. Gambling in various forms is another major crime enterprise infesting the city.

Gordon seems to relish playing the role of a gangland kingpin, as do most of the guest stars who portray underbosses, upstart competitors, or soldiers. In "The Death Tree", Charles Bronson takes control of a gypsy ruling council through assassination and terror. Peter Falk is "The Troubleshooter", rising quickly in the crime ranks by eliminating problems and targeting Ness for a frame-up. "The Matt Bass Scheme" features a grinning Telly Savalas as an enterprising thug who plans to transport whiskey into the city via a sewer pipeline.

Ruth Roman is outstanding as a homicidal female criminal in "Man Killer." Herschel Bernardi, Don Gordon, and Robert Emhardt are a trio of crime specialists who decide to combine their talents while hasbeen ex-boss Jay C. Flippen is duped into serving as their "Fall Guy." In "Power Play", Albert Salmi gives one of his best-ever performances as a fugitive harbored by a lonely spinster (Mary Fickett) who has deadly designs on him.

"The Gang War" is an exciting tale of rival crime boss Victor Buono's airborne smuggling racket which draws the ire of both Nitti and Ness, with lethal results. And in the suspenseful "The Whitey Steele Story", Ness himself goes undercover as a surly thug in order to expose a gambling racket, while Henry Silva and Murray Hamilton threaten to expose his true identity.

Other noteworthy guest stars appearing in this collection include James Gregory, Cloris Leachman, Vincent Gardenia, Carroll O'Connor, Bing Russell, Marc Lawrence, Antony Carbone (CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA), Arlene (Sax) Martel, Wendell Corey, Milt Seltzer, Michael Constantine, Joe Turkel, Paul Richards, Mike Kellin, Theodore Marcuse, Vic Perrin, Harold J. Stone, Joan Staley (THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN), John Larch, Barbara Luna, Vaughn Taylor, George Tobias, Dabbs Greer, Arthur Hill, Simon Oakland, Gavin MacLeod, Ed Nelson, Paul Birch, Herbie Faye, Frank Cady, Phillip Pine, Ed Asner, Bert Convy, and Dyan Cannon. Peter Coe of such films as THE MUMMY'S CURSE and HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN even turns up as a two-bit thug named "Flipper."

More than just showing up to collect a paycheck, these guest stars give solid performances that reflect the feature-film quality of the writing and production values of the show. Each episode has the look and feel of a classic-era Warner Bros. gangster picture, with exquisite black-and-white cinematography and stylish direction by the likes of Paul Wendkos, Bernard L. Kowalski, and Abner Biberman.

This is one of the most violent shows of its era. The body count mounts quickly as characters are brutally rubbed out in various nasty ways, usually after crossing Frank Nitti or squealing to the cops, and the lethal action is always well-staged. Nowhere is this more evident than in the episode entitled "Loophole", in which crooked lawyer Jack Klugman flaunts the law to keep vicious criminal Martin Landau out of jail. A drive-by hit on a potential witness outside the courtroom explodes into a chaotic, bullet-riddled street battle filled with blazing Tommy guns and crashing cars. The sequence is beautifully directed and thrilling, rivaling similar scenes in the GODFATHER films.

The four discs in this DVD set contain 16 episodes which originally aired 1961-1962. Picture is 4:3 full-screen and looks great. Sound is Dolby Digital English and Spanish mono. Subtitles are available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. No bonus features.

If you get a bang out of vintage gangster flicks, THE UNTOUCHABLES: SEASON 3, VOLUME 1 is a great collection of hard-hitting, action-packed entertainment from one of the best crime shows ever produced. This noirish and violent show doesn't pull any punches.

PERRY MASON: SEASON 4, VOLUME 1 -- DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 5/26/09

 

A lot of people seem to have the same childhood memory of the "Perry Mason" TV show--the music used to scare them. I myself recall hearing it from the other room and being afraid to go in there. It sounds so ominous and threatening, like horrible things must happen on the show that would give you nightmares. Anyway, Fred Steiner's "Park Avenue Beat" is one of the coolest TV themes ever. I have a Tubes live album where they do a really good cover of it, but nothing beats the original version.

Now that I'm officially a grown-up and neither the music nor the show itself actually scare me anymore, I've been enjoying a Perry Mason marathon with the 4-disc DVD set PERRY MASON: SEASON 4, VOLUME 1. In fact, I think this is the first time I've ever watched episodes of it all the way through. It's still a pretty serious show--there isn't a whole lot of comedy relief when every episode is about someone getting murdered and someone else being wrongfully accused of it.

The fact that the show was so damn serious was another thing that made me steer clear of it as a kid, in addition to my never being able to follow the story. Too much talk, too much information to process and plot to keep up with. But now, I find the show just complicated enough to engage my curiosity and keep me guessing. Sometimes I'm able to figure out who the real killer is in advance, and other times it's a complete surprise.

Funny thing is, Perry himself is usually the most easygoing character on the show. This is mainly because he's so smart. Whatever happens, no matter how messed-up, Perry can rely on his brilliant intellect and infallible instincts to help him weave his way slowly but surely toward the solution of any mystery. So he can afford to be cool as a cucumber at all times. Sometimes during a trial, he'll allow himself a subtle smirk at the hopeless attempts of the D.A. to trip him up and prove his client guilty. (Although there are times when some unexpected development or revelation makes him visibly apprehensive.) Perry has such an incredible record of success that by now, the judge should simply save the taxpayers' money and automatically dismiss the case against anyone who hires him as their attorney, because everything after that is just a formality.

As Erle Stanley Gardner's literary legal eagle, Raymond Burr always struck me as a mountain of beef in a gigantic black suit. If you're a kid, he can be pretty scary-looking with those impossibly broad shoulders and those big black circles under his eyes. As an adult, I see him and think: "This is the guy I want on my side." Each episode begins with someone getting themselves into a situation in which there's a murder, and all evidence points to them as the killer. Then, as soon as we see them sitting in Perry's office, we breathe a sigh of relief and know that everything will eventually work out okay. Unlike real-life defendants, Perry's clients are never actually guilty--their innocence is established in our eyes as soon as he takes the case--so he never has to resort to legal sleight-of-hand or shady technicalities in order to get them off the hook. That way, his character can always remain a purehearted crusader for justice with his integrity firmly intact and his conscience clear.

I like Burr better as the irascible IRONSIDE in his later series, in which he got to be more animated and action-oriented even though he was confined to a wheelchair. But his Perry Mason character is still fascinating to watch. Barbara Hale as his efficient secretary Della Street and William Hopper as private detective Paul Drake, who does all of Perry's legwork, lend solid support and a comfortable comradery. Distinguished character actor Ray Collins is always fine as crotchety old homicide detective Lt. Tragg, whose dogged efforts to nail a suspect for murder are constantly being thwarted by Mason's superior deductive skills.

Each episode spends about half an hour setting up the situation, establishing a murder and an innocent suspect, and showing us what a seemingly airtight case Lt. Tragg has against the unfortunate chump. The second half of the episode covers the tense courtroom drama, with the hapless D.A. doing his best to outwit Mason, Lt. Tragg confidently testifying against the accused, and Mason methodically putting together a defense that will invariably blow the case right out of the water at the last minute and reveal the identity of the real killer.

More often than not, this results in one of those frantic witness-stand confessions that lawyers say never happen in real life, but which are an integral part of shows like this. There's a lot of verbal cat-and-mouse stuff going on here, which I find engrossing and mentally stimulating when I'm in the mood for that sort of thing. If you're looking for explosions, car chases, and fistfights, this show won't do much for you. But if you're the kind who likes to curl up with a good whodunnit, this is wonderful stuff.

As is the norm for shows of this era (circa 1960), the guest cast is often filled with familiar faces. Morris Ankrum, Frank Wilcox, and Bryan Morrow are some of the actors who show up as judges. The revolving line-up of prosecutors includes Christopher Dark, 50s genre favorite Kenneth Tobey, and, most effectively, H.M. Wynant as a hotshot young deputy D.A. who's just aching to prove himself by getting one over on Mason. As for regular castmember William Talman, who is well-known as Perry Mason's usual nemesis Hamilton Burger, he only appears in three episodes in this set--numbers 1, 2, and 15--since this is the season during which Talman was fired after being arrested (in the nude) during the raid of a Beverly Hills party in which marijuana use was suspected. Charges against him were later dismissed, and with the support of Burr, along with the rest of the show's cast and many of its fans, he was rehired.

Other notable guests in this set include Robert Redford, James Coburn, a very young Louise Fletcher, Sue Randall (Beaver Cleaver's teacher in "Leave It to Beaver"), Stephen Talbot (Beaver's friend Gilbert), Whit Bissell, Ken Curtis, Bert Freed, Virginia Christine, Hal Smith, William Campbell, Dabbs Greer, Harry Townes, Casey Adams, Coleen Gray, Robert Cornthwaite, Robert Clarke, Kathie Browne, Robert Lowery, Francis X. Bushman, Jeanette Nolan, John "Sgt. Schultz" Banner, Regis Toomey, Bruce Gordon, Corey Allen ("Buzz" in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE), Richard Deacon, Robert Brown, Arthur Franz, Philip Abbott, Dave Willock, James Westerfield, Vaughn Taylor, John Hoyt, John Lupton, Barry Atwater, and Tony Travis of THE BEATNIKS' fame.

The show is filmed in lush, atmospheric black-and-white and the image quality on these digitally remastered DVDs is very good. Each of the four discs contains four episodes. No bonus features.

PERRY MASON is one of the genuine milestones of classic television, very evocative of its era, and each episode is like a well-produced mini-movie. With sixteen of Perry Mason's most baffling and exciting cases, PERRY MASON: SEASON 4, VOLUME 1 is solid entertainment all the way.