FORCE OF EXECUTION -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 12/7/13

 

Steven Seagal continues to keep one big foot planted firmly in the action sub-genre that he himself created--namely, the "Steven Seagal movie"--but in the case of the mildly entertaining FORCE OF EXECUTION (2013) his participation is noticeably limited to little more than "guest star" status.

Just as the titles of these movies are now mostly random combinations of the same group of words, the plot of this latest Seagal foot-fest is a simple mix of action and gangster movie tropes upon which to hang fight sequences like Christmas ornaments. 

But let's face it--that's just what we want, as long as it's put together with skill and a little pizzazz, as this minor but watchable effort is.  This time, Seagal plays his usual ex-military badass who now uses his training to advance himself to kingpin status in the world of crime.  When he sends his most trusted man, Roman Hurst (Bren Foster, MAXIMUM CONVICTION, "Days of Our Lives") on an important hit, it's deliberately botched by Ice Man (Ving Rhames), an up-and-coming gang boss who wants to move up in Steve's crime family before taking it over himself.  Roman gets the blame, is punished by having his hands broken, and is sent into exile as a street bum.  

While drinking his way through his new life, Roman befriends an ex-con named Oso (Danny Trejo) who runs a diner along with Roman's heartthrob, the lovely Karen (Jenny Gabrielle, SEAL TEAM SIX: THE RAID ON OSAMA BIN LADEN).  When Oso and Karen get drawn into the escalating war between Steve and Ice Man, Roman realizes he must knock himself back into some kind of fighting shape in order to protect both them and his former boss, to whom he is still loyal for some damn reason I couldn't quite figure out. 

It's the same tired old plot about warring crime lords vying for top-dog spot in a particular hood, but you really don't have to worry too much about the details as long as you keep track of who the good bad guys are as opposed to the really bad, evil, nasty bad guys.  The violence-enriched story by Richard Beattie (MAXIMUM CONVICTION) and first-timer Michael Black doesn't quite flow but instead jerks forward from one cliched situation to the next, coming to life when these trash-talking bastards threaten, torture, or physically attack each other.

Seagal, thank goodness, seems to have managed to keep his weight down lately and wears something that looks more like a regular suit than a muu-muu.  In fact, he seems to be in the same relatively spry shape as in the recent MAXIMUM CONVICTION, another film by director Keoni Waxman (HUNT TO KILL, THE KEEPER) which really scored a home run while giving stars Seagal and Steve Austin plenty to do. 

But even though he's more sedentary these days, Steve's strengths lie in how he uses his still considerable presence, talking trash and being the baddest mofo in whatever room he happens to saunter into.  And by now, director Waxman knows how to work his movie magic in order to make it look as though the big guy is doing more than just flailing his arms and letting a stand-in do all the heavy lifting.  Steve's fans are well aware that he does a minimum of the agile stuff himself these days, so just getting the illusion right is pretty much all we can ask. 

Waxman does well with a decent script and knows how to put together a terse, coherent action scene in which quick cutting adds to the excitement rather than the confusion. In fact, you can almost sense his own cinematic excitement  gearing up when the talking's done and it's time to get down to business. 

With the young and athletic Bren Foster, whose character is actually FORCE OF EXECUTION's main attraction, Waxman has someone he can work with to create some wildly furious fight scenes in which guns and knives come into play as well as fists and feet.  As an actor, Foster reminds me of a perpetually nonplussed Colin Farrell, which is either good or bad according to your own tastes.  Action-wise, he's got the kind of moves (including a very good spin-kick) that make fans of this kind of flick happy. 

Ving Rhames has some fun chomping on the scenery as a more jovial version of PULP FICTION's Marcellus Wallace, delivering lines like "It's lucky for you I promised my mama I wouldn't kill anybody today" and shooting off two guns at a time with both eyes shut tight.  The ever-reliable Danny Trejo, who should be well on his way to "national treasure" status by now, also seems to be having a good time, especially when using his witch doctor skills to apply deadly scorpions to an unwilling patient in order to "heal" his wounds.  As Karen, Jenny Gabrielle makes an appealing love interest/damsel-in-distress for Foster's hero to rescue from her dastardly captors.

The 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo from Anchor Bay is in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby  5.1 sound and subtitles in English and Spanish.  The sole extra is a behind-the-scenes featurette.

By the final reel, Steven Seagal has geared up into commando mode to fight off Ving and his men in his own fortress of crime, which leads to a highly eventful (but seemingly rushed) finale.  While nowhere near the rollicking success of MAXIMUM CONVICTION,  and lacking anything resembling URBAN JUSTICE's cool-as-hell ending, FORCE OF EXECUTION still manages to provide more than the minimum requirement of entertainment that we've come to expect from the latter-day Seagal.

FORCE OF EXECUTION -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

Classic Kirk Douglas Scene: 3 Slaps, You're Out (IN HARM'S WAY, 1965) (video)

 Here's a powerful scene from Kirk Douglas' performance in the WWII classic IN HARM'S WAY.

Commander Owynn (Patrick O'Neal) and his aide Lt. Jere Torrey (Brandon De Wilde)...

...are sneaky undercover informants for an inept admiral (Dana Andrews).

Capt. Eddington (Kirk Douglas) is determined to get rid of them.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Classic Kirk Douglas Scene: 3 Slaps, You're Out (IN HARM'S WAY, 1965) (video)

MEMORIAL DAY (2011) -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Some war flicks serve up non-stop, blazing battle action for us to pound down popcorn by, while others are dark political nightmares that have us suffering the existential horror of it all.  And then there's MEMORIAL DAY (2011), the kind of war movie that just wants to get inside some soldiers' heads for awhile.

While Staff Sergeant Kyle Vogel (Jonathan Bennett) serves in Iraq, his experiences keep drawing him back to a lazy Memorial Day in 1993 when, as a 13-year-old boy in Minnesota, he found his grandfather's WWII footlocker filled with "souvenirs."  Bud Vogel (James Cromwell) tells Kyle to put it back, but the boy insists on hearing some of the old man's war stories.  Bud makes a deal--three items, three stories, and if Kyle behaves like a man, Bud will talk to him like one.

That special afternoon between Bud and Kyle on the porch, embued with all the golden-hued notalgia of a lemonade commercial, is the heart of MEMORIAL DAY, when the mentally failing old man recalls his precious stories one last time for the boy who is now mature enough to appreciate them.  Kyle's first choice, naturally, is a pistol, but rather than yielding a tale of daring adventure it takes the old man back to one of those days that still haunts him deep in his soul. 

 

 

 
All of the action we see during these flashbacks is peripheral to such emotional trauma, with soldiers such as Bud not only losing beloved comrades but sharing moments of grief and anguish with the enemy as well.  A battle in a Belgian forest in '44 serves mainly to establish the bond between the men involved (along with how Bud happened to get shrapnel from a potato masher in his butt), while another confrontation ends with Bud losing his best friend via an almost anticlimactic final shot.

Director Samuel Fischer handles the WWII sequences in a more traditional style than the "Saving Private Ryan"/"Band of Brothers" look we expect nowadays.  The latter is used during the present-day Kyle's day-to-day experiences in Anbar Province, Iraq, which are also shown to consist of long periods of dull drudgery and mounting tension punctuated by moments of horror and chaos.  

Again, the brief battle scenes are practically beside the point, and one mission to capture a terrorist leader, which is given considerable build-up, is aborted before it begins.

 

 

When a shrapnel injury lands him in the hospital, a sympathetic nurse (Emily Fradenburgh) allows Kyle to wax reminiscent himself, his stories often containing parallels to those of his grandfather as he harkens back to that long-ago Memorial Day.  

 Thus, we learn that a soldier's life is pretty much the same no matter the time or place, with the emotional significance of an event taking precedence over anything else.

Cromwell, who by now could probably play a part like this in his sleep, gives his usual sturdy performance as old Bud, while his son John plays the younger version in flashbacks.  The fact that John looks and sounds so much like his old man, in addition to being a pretty good actor himself, gives these scenes added authenticity.  As the older Kyle, Jonathan Bennett underplays enough to come across as a regular guy. 

 

 

The DVD from Image Entertainment is in 1.85:1 widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound.  Extras consist of a commentary from director, producer, and actor John Cromwell, and a very brief behind-the-scenes short.

If you're expecting lots of action, be prepared to spend a leisurely afternoon on the porch with Grandpa during much of MEMORIAL DAY, which lives up to its title in a wistful, contemplative, and melancholy way.  This is the story of everyday soldiers doing a job which, at times, happens to exact an overwhelming emotional toll that stays with them for the rest of their lives.  

However, chances are that this well-meaning but ultimately rather bland movie won't affect you nearly that long, because although it does what it sets out to do fairly well, it never comes close to the kind of emotional crescendo that it labors to achieve.

MEMORIAL DAY (2011) -- Movie Review by Porfle

SEAL TEAM SIX: THE RAID ON OSAMA BIN LADEN -- Blu-Ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 12/31/12

 

A fairly interesting and involving fact-based war flick that first aired on the National Geographic Channel, SEAL TEAM SIX: THE RAID ON OSAMA BIN LADEN (2012) moves like it's on a mission to cover all the bases without lingering on anything long enough to either get boring or go very deep. 

The device of intercutting interview segments into the action speeds up exposition and character development in a rather superficial way, while actual footage of terrorist attacks (including still-disturbing shots of the stricken Twin Towers) reminds us of what's at stake in this quest to take out the infamous al-Qaeda leader.

We meet Seal Team Six during a mission in Afghanistan in which an ambush takes the life of a member named "D-Punch" (Tait Fletcher), then follow their intensive training for what will turn out to be the big one.  The main characters include young team leader Stunner (Cam Gigandet, PANDORUM, TWILIGHT) and his friendly rival Cherry (Anson Mount, HICK, STRAW DOGS), easygoing but tough family guy Mule (Xzibit, "Pimp My Ride", CONSPIRACY THEORY), and PLANET TERROR's Freddy Rodríguez as Trench.  The story lingers on their personal accounts and long-distance exchanges with family members just enough to make us vaguely familiar with them. 

On the civilian side, CIA analyst Vivian Hollins (Kathleen Robertson, HOLLYWOODLAND) explains why she's obsessed with taking out Bin Laden as new intelligence gives his possible location as a fortified compound in Pakistan.  Much of the film's drama centers on the CIA's attempts to verify this intel and the decision whether or not to raid the compound without conclusive evidence, which, as history has shown, could have disastrous results. 

The latter point allows the filmmakers to establish President Barack Obama as one of the film's major characters, through extensive stock footage and speech excerpts.  So much so, in fact, that the whole thing begins to resemble a reverent campaign ad at times, with Obama coming off as the wise, assertive military tactician whose "go get 'em" attitude is opposed by the likes of John McCain, Mitt Romney, and (whoops) Joe Biden.  Obama's generous inclusion here, in fact, even rivals the pervasive presence of Bill Clinton in the sci-fi thriller CONTACT. 

As Seal Team Six trains for their mission with mock invasion scenarios, we become accustomed to the rapid-fire editing and fluid camera moves of director John Stockwell's engaging visual style.  This allows him to depict the events of the big night in a way that reflects the chaos and confusion while keeping the action easy to follow, with a bit of the flavor of Ridley Scott's BLACK HAWK DOWN but on a lesser scale. 

Stockwell, also an actor familiar to those who remember his starring role in John Carpenter's CHRISTINE, gives much of the film that distinctive black-and-blue look seen so often these days and uses lots of cross-cutting among various participants in the mission to build suspense.  Once the raid begins, the film is riveting, conveying a real sense of the overwhelming danger and intrigue of the actual events.  As far as the film's historical accuracy goes (the fact that it's highly-fictionalized is pretty obvious) I'll have to leave that to the historical experts. 

Performances are adequate with a few standouts, including Robert Knepper (TRANSPORTER 3, HITMAN) as the team's Lieutenant Commander and William Fichtner being his usual awesome self as CIA boss Guidry.  An outstanding techno score helps keep things moving along at a brisk pace. 

The Blu-Ray disc from Anchor Bay is widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound and subtitles in English and Spanish.  Included is a behind-the-scenes featurette.

SEAL TEAM SIX: THE RAID ON OSAMA BIN LADEN isn't on the same scale as the epic war films but it easily rises above the usual made-for-TV fare.  With a subject of such major importance, any lesser treatment would be conspicuously cheap.  Here, however, we get a modest war film that's both satisfying and, given the personal feelings each viewer brings to the experience, somewhat cathartic. 

SEAL TEAM SIX: THE RAID ON OSAMA BIN LADEN -- Blu-Ray Review by Porfle

THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 10/28/13

 

Like so many soldiers throughout the ages, returning World War II veterans were faced with a special dilemma--they were back in the homefront they'd yearned for, yet surrounded by people who had no idea what they'd just been through and what they were going through now. 

The problems these men had fitting back into peacetime society--including becoming members of their own families again--are skillfully and sympathetically explored in director William Wyler's Oscar-winning masterwork THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946), now available on Blu-ray from Warner Home Video.

Three ex-servicemen--Army sergeant Al Stephenson (Frederic March,  DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE), Air Force captain Fred Derry (Dana Andrews, CURSE OF THE DEMON),  and Navy swabbie Homer Parrish (Harold Russell)--hitch a long ride on a military transport to their hometown and become bosom buddies along the way. 

We begin to feel their tension at seeing family and friends again as they liken it to "storming the beaches", with Homer especially dreading the impending reunion due to the loss of his hands during his ship's sinking.  He fears not only how his folks will react but mostly whether or not his prospective bride, girl-next-door Wilma (Cathy O'Donnell, BEN HUR), will now reject him.

Fred has a different problem--his blond bombshell wife, Marie (a drop-dead gorgeous Virginia Mayo), to whom he had been married a mere twenty days before going overseas, is a party animal whose recent job in a nightclub has made her accustomed to a fast lifestyle which her unemployed husband can't provide. 

The young Andrews is ideally cast as a once-proud soldier who now must return to his old job as a drugstore soda jerk, biting his lip as a former underling orders him around while an uncaring boss, as did many at the time, regards him and other returning vets as a nuisance to society.  With Marie constantly berating him for not being successful or ambitious enough, and openly flaunting her intentions to "step out" on him, we can hardly blame Fred when he falls for Marie's exact opposite, the lovely and understanding Peggy (a vibrant Teresa Wright).

Trouble is,  Peggy is Al's daughter, and he's having his own problems without having to worry about her hooking up with a married man.  Unlike his two pals, former banker Al returns to a luxurious apartment but feels just as out-of-place among his wife and two kids.  Their reunion is tense and uncomfortable--empathetic viewers, in fact, may feel this way for much of the film--with Al first glimpsing his wife Milly (Myrna Loy) across the expanse of a long hallway that symbolizes the gulf still lying between them.  (He'll later describe the feeling of crossing that hallway as "like going overseas again.")

In  the film's opening scenes, it's heartrending to see the near-desperation with which the three main characters cling to each other's sympathetic company rather than face the prospect of returning to the families who now seem almost like strangers to them.  Later,  we fear that they'll never reassimilate back into normal life. 

This is especially true when restless Al urges Milly and Peggy to join him for a night out on the town.  March, seemingly slipping  into his celebrated Mr. Hyde persona at times,  portrays Al as a manic, nearly out-of-control drunk on his first night back--it's almost as though he's decompressing, or trying to put on the brakes like a speeding jet landing on a runway.  

It makes us glad that Milly is such a strong, sensible, supportive wife, with a rock-solid Myrna Loy (THE THIN MAN) lending her the stature of a woman any man would fight to come back home to and be glad to have on his side.  With her help, Al will eventually "mature" into a self-assured, no-nonsense personality whose unshakable principles threaten to get him into hot water back at the bank when he starts granting loans to other veterans with little or no collateral.  His drinking is another concern, as is the growing rift between him and Fred over daughter Peggy.

Even though we know Fred's marriage to Marie hasn't much of a future, his impulsiveness worries us when he steals a kiss from Peggy after an innocent lunch date.  Her growing attraction to him draws her into a terrible quandary which puts her at odds with her parents, and the scene of their most emotional confrontation is powerfully done. 

Meanwhile,  Fred's feelings of worthlessness are dramatically illustrated when he visits a "graveyard" for derelict bomber planes that are to be junked.  Sitting in the nose of a rusty, engineless plane and reliving his experiences as a bombadier, he realizes that he, too, is a wartime relic to be either recycled or tossed on the junk heap.  Director Wyler renders the sequence with exquisite skill, while Andrews gives it his all and musical composer Hugo Friedhofer pulls out all the stops--it's a gripping scene. 

Still, this is nothing compared to the emotional rollercoaster in store for the viewer regarding the unfortunate sailor, Homer.  Portrayed by real-life amputee Harold Russell, himself a former serviceman who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his debut role, Homer endures excruciating emotional torment which we can't help but share as he feels isolated amidst his own family and impotent as a man. 

During a scene in which he silently allows his father to remove his "arms" and dress him in his pajamas--in what was certainly a reflection of his own real-life experiences-- Russell's face and demeanor tell us everything we need to know about the thoughts and emotions roiling inside him.  When he angrily thrusts his hooks through a windowpane in response to the curious looks of his little sister and her friends, it's a shocking and disturbing moment in cinema. 

Russell gives an earnest, painfully uninhibited performance that lends added dimension to what is already a devastatingly effective and multi-faceted story.  Andrews has probably never been better, nor has Teresa Wright, with their final scene together delivering a substantial payoff for the film as a whole.

March and Loy, the two old pros, come through like gangbusters as a couple whose problems only seem to make them stronger as long if they face them together.  And in a role that displayed her dramatic talent at a time when she was known mostly for comedy, Virginia Mayo proves that she's not only a knockout but can deliver a raucous, punchy performance (her "mirror" scene with Wright dazzles, as do her frenetic exchanges with Andrews.)  Also in the cast are stalwarts such as Hoagy Carmichael, Ray Collins, Steve Cochran (as Marie's oily-haired new beau), Don Beddoe, and Gladys George.

The single-disc Blu-ray from Warner Home Video is in 1.77:1 widescreen and English 1.0 sound.  Subtitles are in English, French,  and Spanish.  Bonus features consist of a brief introduction by Virginia Mayo, interview footage with Mayo and Teresa Wright, and the theatrical trailer. 

After THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES has already put us through the wringer with its other stories of desperation and redemption,  it saves its deepest felt and most lasting impact for the final scenes between Harold Russell's "Homer" and girl-next-door Wilma (Cathy O'Donnell is sweetness incarnate in the role) finally resolving the long-running uncertainty that has lingered between them since his return.  It's one of the most heartrendingly emotional sequences I've ever seen, and if you can get through it without blubbering like a baby, then, as Kipling once said, "You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!"

THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

ZULU DAWN -- Blu-Ray/DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 3/12/13

 

The Battle of Isandlwana is known as history's worst defeat of a "modern" army by native forces, and you'll see why when you watch Severin Films' Blu-Ray/DVD release of the rip-roaring ZULU DAWN (1979), a disheartening portrait of a pointless and utterly wasteful military massacre.

It's 1879, and the supremely arrogant Lord Chelmsford (Peter O'Toole), who commands the British Army in South Africa, is eager to declare war on the Zulu Empire for fun and profit.  He sends an unreasonable ultimatum to the Zulu king, Cetshwayo, which is rightly refused, giving Lord Chelmsford an excuse to go on the offensive.

"My only fear is that the Zulus will avoid an engagement," Chelmsford haughtily remarks, and a successful initial skirmish with a small band of Zulus reinforces his false confidence.  But unknown to him, King Cetshwayo has 30,000 fierce warriors ready to bring the fight to the advancing enemy, and when they clash with the unsuspecting British forces it quickly escalates into a terrifying one-sided slaughter.

Before this, however, ZULU DAWN takes its sweet time building up to the action as we watch the overconfident British forces at work and play in the town of Natal.  We see them as sophisticated gentleman soldiers dashing around self-importantly on horseback or engaging in spirited training exercises and bonding rituals as though living some curdled version of the "Boys' Adventure" tales.  Only Col. Anthony Durnford (Burt Lancaster) seems to have any understanding of the Zulus and how dangerous it is to underestimate them, but Chelmsford dismisses his warnings.

An elegant garden party gives officers and their families a taste of proper English life as realistic characters rub shoulders with familiar caricatures such as the achingly genteel Fanny Colenso (Anna Caulder-Marshall, WUTHERING HEIGHTS).  The party ends with the declaration of war and before long, horsemen and infantry are marching toward Zululand as their keen anticipation of battle grows.  "What a wonderful adventure we're undertaking!" one of them beams while riding briskly along on horseback.    

Meanwhile, we're given a preview of what they're up against when we see King Cetshwayo impassively viewing a fight to the death and reacting to Lord Chelmsford's ultimatum with a calm dismissal.  He's cruel and unyielding, ordering executions without trials and ruling with an iron fist, but we can't help but see his side of the issue and sympathize, as the film clearly aims to throw our loyalties for either side into conflict.  On one hand, the Zulus are protecting their homeland from outsiders and are portrayed as brave, loyal comrades.  On the other, honorable soldiers are being sent unprepared into a hopeless battle at the behest of unworthy superiors. 

When the two forces finally meet, it's like Custer's Last Stand multiplied by ten.  Current filmmakers like Peter Jackson can give us millions of CGI-generated soldiers in conflict, but there's still nothing quite as impressive as seeing thousands of actual people going at it on an expansive cinematic battlefield that's roiling with furious action. 

The clash of fighting styles is woefully evident as the smartly-dressed British line up in neat rows and fire in an orderly fashion while the Zulus stampede toward them by the thousands like a human avalanche.  Almost the entire second half of ZULU DAWN consists of such an overwhelming defeat of the British that there's barely even any suspense save the question of how long the massacre will last. 

Scattered vignettes depict small instances of valor that are somewhat redeeming, such as the attempt of Lt. William Vereker (Simon Ward) to rescue the battalion's colors and carry them to safety, and the heroism of C.S.M. Williams (Bob Hoskins) as he fights to the death in hand-to-hand combat alongside a callow young soldier with whom he has formed a fatherly bond.  We get to know some of the Zulus as well, as they're captured by the British and tortured before giving false information and, eventually, managing to escape as their erstwhile captors are then led into an ambush.

Peter O'Toole and Burt Lancaster are superb as they lead a remarkable cast including Denholm Elliott (RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK), Simon Ward, Bob Hoskins, John Mills, Freddie Jones, Ronald Lacey, Nigel Davenport, Phil Daniels, Michael Jayston, and Anna Calder-Marshall.  Composer Elmer Bernstein (THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, THE GREAT ESCAPE) contributes a score that's passable but not up to his usual standards.

Director Douglas Hickox (THEATER OF BLOOD, THE GIANT BEHEMOTH) handles first unit photography in a consistently interesting and imaginative way, with the initial scenes evincing a drollness and dry wit that evolves into an epic grandeur that's often bracing.  The main drawback is that much of the film's first half is almost too dry and conservatively paced, although this is more than made up for by the continuous action that follows the halfway mark.
 
The Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack from Severin Films is in widescreen with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound and full HD resolution.  No subtitles.  Extras consist of "The History of the Zulu Wars" and "A Visit to the Battlefield" with author Ian Knight ("Zulu Rising"), "Recreating the War" with historical advisor Midge Carter, a theatrical trailer, and outtakes. 

Fans of British colonialism will probably want to skip ZULU DAWN lest they find it an ultimately dispiriting experience.  Anyone who gets off on seeing a "primitive" indigenous population repelling a superior invading force, on the other hand, should have a ball.  But those interested in military history and warfare, and war-movie fans in general, will be best served by this vivid and sweeping depiction of one of the most unsual battles ever fought.

ZULU DAWN -- Blu-Ray/DVD Review by Porfle

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

OPERATION PETTICOAT -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

BOB HOPE SALUTES THE TROOPS -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/21/17

 

If you're a certain age, the three-disc DVD set BOB HOPE SALUTES THE TROOPS (Time Life) will no doubt come as a primo slice of Grade-A nostalgia, as it did for me. 

If not, you might still have a good time stepping into the wayback machine and seeing something that was such a big part of so many people's lives for around half a century.

That's about how long Bob Hope traveled the world entertaining our troops for Christmas, starting in 1941 and lasting until Operation Desert Shield in the early 90s. 

Wherever there were American soldiers stationed far away from home during wartime, Bob and his stalwart troup of performers were there putting on a show.

 

Over the span of years, the faces in the crowd are always different, yet somehow the same--excited to have celebrities coming all that way just to entertain them, wildly enthusiastic for every lame joke, soft shoe dance step, or sexy girl, and often just a bit wistful at this teasing glimpse of "back home."

Bob's monologues are always corny and cheesy as all get out, but that's pretty much the appeal of these shows, especially in retrospect.  And it's all done with love and a sincere desire to both honor these soldiers and make whatever hardships they endure a bit more bearable, if only for a few minutes. 

(He doesn't neglect those who can't attend the show either, visiting military hospitals in each location.)

 

Bob clearly relishes the spotlight in front of such an appreciative, entertainment-starved audience, and milks every gag for all it's worth.  Who can blame him?  He's definitely getting as much of a charge out of all this as they are.

The same can be said for Bob's guest stars, some of whom probably never got quite this kind of a welcome back in the States.  These include ever-present comic foil Jerry Colonna, comedian Redd Foxx, astronauts Alan Shepard and Neil Armstrong, and sports legends Johnny Bench, Rosey Grier, and Roman Gabriel.

And then, of course, there are the ladies, including Lana Turner, Jill St. John, Ann Jillian, Frances Langford, Marie Osmond, Anita Bryant, Janis Paige, Fran Jeffries, the Pointer Sisters, the Gold Diggers, Lola Falana, various beauty pageant winners, and a sizzling Ann-Margret (clearly the crowd favorite).

Naturally, Bob works just a tad more "blue" than usual for the soldiers, throwing in plenty of military in-jokes and cracks about the often inhospitable locations they're stationed in.

 

These gags go over like gangbusters every time, as do the endless succession of (family-TV-friendly) sexual references.  Needless to say, most of the humor in these shows is gloriously un-PC.

The first show, "Bob Hope's Christmas Cheer in Saudi Arabia" (Original Airdate: 1/12/91) is the latest one in the collection (and the only one on videotape instead of film) and features scenes from Bob's final overseas shows during Operation Desert Shield. 

These include topical references to Hussein and Khadafi and lots of jokes about sand and camels.  By this time Bob was getting on in years so it's heartwarming to see him still at it, entertaining the troops.

Other 60 and 90-minute segments in the set, which are mostly clip shows assembled from several different stops all over South Pacific and Far Eastern military bases, are "The Bob Hope Christmas Special: Around the World with the USO" (Original Airdate: 1/16/69), "Bob Hope: Memories of WWII", "The Bob Hope Christmas Special" (Original Airdate: 1/15/65), "The Bob Hope Christmas Show" (1/16/63), "The Bob Hope Christmas Special: Around the Globe with the U.S.O." (Original Airdate: 1/17/72), and "The Bob Hope Christmas Special" (Original Airdate: 1/17/73).

These earlier shows feature a relatively younger and more energetic Hope, who, along with his faithful entourage, often brave dangerous surroundings and less than reliable transportation (a propeller stops working during one airplane flight). 

Of course, such nerve-rattling events only serve to give Bob more stories and jokes with which to regail his next joyous audience.  And if you're like me, you'll greet BOB HOPE SALUTES THE TROOPS with roughly the same enthusiasm, along with that inescapable nostalgia that adds so much to its undying appeal. 


PROGRAM INFORMATION
Format: DVD/3 Discs
Running Time: 395 minutes
Genre:  TV DVD/Comedy
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audio: Stereo
Street Date: May 2, 2017
DVD SRP: $29.95



Read our original full coverage HERE

BOB HOPE SALUTES THE TROOPS -- DVD Review by Porfle

ROBOWAR -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 6/23/19

 

Once again, prolific Italian schlockmeister Bruno Mattei (VIOLENCE IN A WOMEN'S PRISON, ISLAND OF THE LIVING DEAD, SHOCKING DARK) is loose in the Philippine jungle, but instead of cannibals or zombies, this time he's bringing us a slam-bang, bullet-riddled rip-off of PREDATOR, ROBOCOP, and RAMBO called ROBOWAR (Severin Films, 1988). 

This is actually one of his best films (judging from the ones I've seen, anyway), a good-looking production with lush settings, good camerawork, and some action setpieces that really deliver the explosive goods.

These involve a group of top mercenary soldiers who've been hired to go into the jungle in search of someone--or something--known only as Omega One. Mascher (Mel Davidson) is along as an unwelcome "technical advisor", although the others suspect him of being deeply involved in whatever their secret mission is really about and resent him for holding out on them.

The guys are known collectively as "BAM" (or "Big Ass Mofos", to put it euphemistically) and have such distinct and interesting personalities that we get to like them pretty quick.  Scripters Claudio Fragasso & Rossella Drudi (ZOMBIE 4) have given them some amusingly hokey and funny dialogue, the latter often delivered during the thick of battle which makes those scenes even more fun.

These guys are the usual tough-as-shoe-leather types, especially their leader Murphy (Reb Brown, who I know best as TV's first "Captain America"), but even they are aghast when they start stumbling over a succession of bodies that have been skinned, shredded, disembowled, cooked, etc. in some of the best makeup effects I've seen in a Mattei film.

All of which is due to their elusive prey, a mysterious cyborg who looks like he's wearing a black medieval suit of armor and a motorcycle helmet. Since this movie lacks a Schwarzenegger-sized budget, the cyborg's main features are pixelized robot vision and simple laser-beam weapons.  His constant mental chatter with some centralized computer sounds like those "Roger, Roger" drones in THE PHANTOM MENACE crossed with "The Addams Family"s Cousin Itt.

To increase the team's peril, they keep running into roving gangs of bad-guy guerillas who are gleefully massacring all the civilians in the area including the doctors at a local village hospital. 

Getting involved in the fray, the BAMs not only get a chance to blow away lots of these creeps (in what prove to be the film's most badass action scenes) but also rescue the fair maiden Virgin (Catherine Hickland, "Capitol", "Texas"), a jungle doctor who brings out the chivalrous side of these rough-hewn rogues.

Particularly fun is when the good guys descend on Virgin's former hospital, now used as a guerilla headquarters, and all fiery hell breaks loose. These hardcore mercenaries are armed to the teeth with giant machine guns which they shoot with one hand while feeding it bullets with the other, and they love to scream "YAAAAAA!!!" the whole time. 

When they aren't fighting, ROBOWAR becomes one of those steamy slogs through the jungle where every turn might yield a poisonous snake or a perilous booby trap.  They're being stalked by the cyborg the whole time, but surprisingly he turns out to be much less of a threat than one might imagine, and certainly nothing on the level of the famous "Predator."  Still, he's a fun character and there's a cool final-reel twist regarding his origin.  

There's enough amusingly odd characters and shoot-em-up fun to make ROBOWAR one of Mattei's most entertaining films, whether you're in it for the sci-fi stuff, the gore, or just the trigger-happy military maniacs gleefully shooting up everything in sight while screaming "YAAAAAA!!!"



Scanned in 4k from the original negative
Street date: June 25, 2019

Special Features:

    Robo Predator: Interview with Co-Director/Co-Writer Claudio Fragasso
    Italian Rip Off: Interview with Co-Writer Rossella Drudi
    Violence She Wrote: Career Interview with Screenwriter Rossella Drudi
    Robo-Lady: Interview with Actress Catherine Hickland
    Papa Doc’s War: Interview with Actor John P. Dulaney
    The Robowarrior: Interview with Actor Jim Gaines Jr.
    War in the Phillipines: Interview with Actor/Stuntman Massimo Vanni
    Catherine Hickland’s Behind The Scenes Home Movies
    Trailer

ROBOWAR -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: THE BOB HOPE SPECIALS DELUXE COLLECTION -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 11/19/17

 

Bob Hope was one of those comics who got as much mileage out of a bad joke as he did a good one (a talent shared by Johnny Carson).  In fact, he sometimes seemed to welcome audience groans so that he could do that "take" and comment about how bad the joke was.  Which, of course, got the biggest laugh!

If you're a fan of the inimitable Hope comedy style, especially as presented on all of his various television specials over the decades, you'll be able to gorge yourself on it with the colossal four-volume, 19-DVD boxed set from Time-Life, THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: THE BOB HOPE SPECIALS DELUXE COLLECTION. 

It's a dizzying mish-mash covering five decades of Bob's TV memories--39 specials and more--all in a collage of celebrity guests, comedy and musical bits, and endless one-liners--that should have you alternately laughing and groaning for days. 

The first volume, "Thanks for the Memories: The Bob Hope Specials", contains 13 specials from 1956 to 1996 on six discs and embodies what those of us who grew up with these shows remember most about them.  It's pure Hope, just him getting a bunch of his old-school showbiz friends and hot (at the time) current stars together, putting his gag writers to work, and churning out hours of relentlessly corny comedy that revels in its own casual, offhand silliness.

Most of them are clip montages framed by new Hope footage, including one all-blooper show and another featuring all the ex-presidents he's rubbed shoulders with and poked goodnatured fun at over the years (several of them and their First Ladies appear on the show). 

A more youthful Bob is often juxtaposed with the later, older Bob (sometimes seemingly a bit too old to still be at it) as in his 90th birthday special.  There's also a long look at Bob's lifelong obsession with golf called "Shanks For the Memories."

One highlight is John Wayne playing a frontier Archie Bunker who doesn't want his son (Bob) marrying an Indian maiden played by Joanna "O Mighty Isis" Cameron.  Wayne, ever the good sport, shows his comedy chops here and in another comedy exchange with Bob later on. 

Perennial pal Bing Crosby, Robert Goulet, Angie Dickinson, Redd Foxx (as Santa Claus), Carol Burnette, Cyd Charisse, Jimmy Durante, Eddie Cantor, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Jackie Gleason (in drag!), and the entire cast of "I Love Lucy" are among the veritable boatload of familiar faces who also appear throughout the set.

The four-disc set "Bob Hope: Entertaining The Troops" is ten shows of Hope's legendary global roadshow for our armed forces, both in and out of wartime and wherever in the world they may be, from World War II all the way to the first Gulf War.  These range from later videotaped shows to the early black-and-white filmed footage, always with a sea of eager young soldiers' faces ecstatic over this thrilling sampling of entertainment from back home.

The times and places may change, as well as the generations of both soldiers and performers (with Bob, moustachioed comic Jerry Colonna, singer Frances Langford, and bandleader Les Brown often serving as the only constants), but the shows all have a common theme and feel as these celebrities give their all for the ever-appreciative troops. 

Some of the familiar faces seen in this set are Raquel Welch, Phyllis Diller, Brooke Shields, Johnny Bench, Neil Armstrong, Ursula Andress, Ann-Margaret, Rosey Grier, Romy Schneider, Lana Turner, Teresa Graves, Joey Heatherton, Lola Falana, Marie Osmond, The Judds, Vic Damone, Jack Jones, various Miss World winners, and many more.

Disc four contains two bonus specials including "Hope For the Holidays: Bob Hope's Bag Full of Christmas Memories."  This is one of those "too-old Bob" shows with his and wife Delores' home Christmas party serving as a framing device for lots of classic clips.  The party scenes are as stiff and corny as you can get with such names as Joey Lawrence, Loni Anderson, and Ed Marinaro mingling with actual Hope family members whose acting is hilariously bad.

"Bob Hope: TV Legend" is an 8-disc grab bag of more USO shows for the troops in addition to some regular comedy specials (16 shows in all) ranging from the late 50s to the early 70s.  There's lots more overseas stuff with such guests as Janis Paige, Jill St. John, Anita Bryant, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Andy Williams, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Redd Foxx, Jim Nabors, Gina Lollobrigida, Hedda Hopper, Jayne Mansfield, Tuesday Weld, and Neile Adams.  One of the main highlights is getting to see Steve McQueen doing comedy with Bob in two seperate appearances.

Some of the guests appearing in the regular in-studio shows include old partner Bing Crosby, Lucille Ball, Danny Thomas, George Burns, Carroll Baker, Vikki Carr, Cyd Charisse, Don Rickles, Paul Lynde, Don Adams, Angie Dickinson, Olivia Newton-John, David Niven, Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, and literally dozens of others.  People who love to play "Spot the Stars" will be in heaven with this endless procession of celebrity faces.

Finally, there's the disc entitled "The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts: Bob Hope" in which Dino presides over the roasting of Bob himself, with the help of numerous comics and other celebrities (including filmed bits by John Wayne and Henry Kissinger).  Reverend Billy Graham is the most unlikely participant, while then-governor Ronald Reagan pulls off some surprisingly good one-liners. 

The best, of course, come from comedy legends Milton Berle, Don Rickles, Foster Brooks, Flip Wilson, Rich Little, Nipsey Russell, and Jack Benny, with able assistance from actor Jimmy Stewart.  And the humor is wonderfully non-PC, so the easily-triggered might want to watch with caution. 

In addition to the four DVD sets, the collection includes a full-sized magazine on heavy paper, entitled "Bob Hope: Making Us Laugh For 100 Years."  It's packed with rare photos and essays about Hope's life and career.  Each DVD set also contains illustrated contents booklets. Image quality varies with that of the original sources, some of which are showing their age.  For me, this just increases the nostalgia value.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: THE BOB HOPE SPECIALS DELUXE COLLECTION is the sort of thing that makes not having cable-TV easy, because with this, you've got something good to watch for at least a week or two.  It's like an endless buffet of entertainment for the starving Bob Hope fan. 



Format: DVD (19 Discs)
Running Time: 37 hours + extras
Genre:  TV/Comedy
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audio: Stereo

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: THE BOB HOPE SPECIALS DELUXE COLLECTION -- DVD Review by Porfle

"THE GIANT KILLER" Available on VOD on Feb. 20

XLRATOR MEDIA PRESENTS

"THE GIANT KILLER"

AVAILABLE ON VOD
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2018

A film by David Yuzuk

Miami police officer David Yuzuk befriends a tiny homeless man and after 15 years of friendship the man, Richard J. Flaherty finally reveals who he really is. Yuzuk learns that this unassuming 69-year-old man was the smallest soldier to ever serve in the U.S. military. Flaherty’s military records reveal that he rose to the rank of a Special Forces Green Beret Captain and was awarded the Silver Star, 2 Bronze Stars, and 2 Purple Hearts for his actions in Vietnam.

Flaherty warns Yuzuk not to dig to deep into his life story and states, ͞because it would be bad for your career and dangerous to my health.͟ Despite the warnings Yuzuk locates and contacts a retired federal agent that worked undercover with Flaherty in the 1980’s. The agent advises Yuzuk that everything Flaherty told him is true. Six hours later Yuzuk is informed that Flaherty was just killed by a hit and run driver.

Yuzuk is now compelled to go on a quest to learn everything about his friend’s mysterious life and death. As Yuzuk goes deeper into the rabbit hole of Richard Flaherty’s life the truth starts becoming stranger than fiction. In one final twist to this already incredible story Yuzuk finds Flaherty’s passport and it reveals that in the time that he was living as a homeless man he was also secretly traveling to dangerous locations around the world; Amman Jordan, Iraq, Thailand, Vietnam, and Puerto La Cruz Venezuela.

ABOUT XLRATOR MEDIA, LLC
One of the fastest-growing independent film distribution companies in North America since its creation in 2010, XLrator Media, LLC (XLratorMedia.com) will release 25 films in 2017. Recent releases include Academy Award®-winner John Ridley’s Jimi: All is by My Side starring Andre Benjamin as rock legend Jimi Hendrix, CBGB starring Alan Rickman, and SXSW hits Housebound and The Diabolical. XLrator Media is the home of four acclaimed releasing labels: MACABRE for horror/genre (American Mary, Banshee Chapter), TURBO for action/thrillers (The Machine, Ironclad: Battle For Blood), LIFEFRAME for documentaries (Spirit Game: Pride of a Nation, Storm Surfers 3D, Queen Mimi) and PACE for multicultural films (Five Star, Allegiance, We The Party). The company's first TV series “Superstition” aired on SYFY in the US October 2017-January 2018 and will premiere internationally on Netflix in March 2018.

RT: 79 minutes / Not Rated

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt7291412/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smallestsoldier/

THE GIANT KILLER WILL BE AVAILABLE ON ITUNES, AMAZON, AND ADDITIONAL VOD PLATFORMS.

"THE GIANT KILLER" Available on VOD on Feb. 20