THE QUIET MAN -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 10/28/16

 

A dream, a theme park, a veritable phantasmagoria of idealized Irishness--John Ford's 1952 classic THE QUIET MAN (Olive Signature, Blu-ray and DVD) has quite likely turned more people temporarily Irish than any other film ever made.  It's the sweetly stereotypical Ireland that people like Ford himself imagined in his fondest fantasies whenever he yearned to return to the emerald isle of his parents' birth.

Here, of course, is the beautiful Irish countryside in all its verdant glory, made even more lush through the Technicolor process--none of Republic Pictures' trademark "Trucolor" for Ford--along with the usual cast of character types one might expect. 

There's the diminutive town tippler who's also its matchmaker, Michaleen Oge Flynn (Barry Fitzgerald); big, strapping farmer Will Danaher (Victor McLaglen) and his spinster sister, the impetuous redhead Mary Kate (Maureen O'Hara); imperious, wealthy widow Sarah Tillane (Mildred Natwick), on whom Danaher has his sights set; and the town's Catholic and Protestant spiritual leaders, Father Peter Lonergan (Ward Bond) and Reverend Cyril Playfair (Arthur Shields).

Ford renders his fantasy vision of rural Irish life with an artist's eye and a poet's heart, providing a backdrop of purity and contentment that the outside world can scarcely touch.  Custom is observed at all times--a scenic seaside horse race in which the riders vie for their ladies' bonnets, primly proper courtships whose etiquette seems unduly unyielding, and, at every opportunity, a pint or two in the local pub.

Into this seemingly timeless world comes childhood resident Sean Thornton (John Wayne), long Americanized but yearning to return to his pastoral roots to escape the haunting memory of killing a man in the boxing ring.  This gives him a reticence to fight that appears as cowardice when Danaher challenges him over Thornton's brazen courting of his sister Mary Kate.  Only later, after much tortured, hopeless struggle against Irish tradition, will Thornton relent.

Meanwhile, THE QUIET MAN seethes with fiery romance between Sean and Mary Kate, he brashly forward and unequivocal, she primly conservative on the outside while barely containing her inner passion.  A chaste, chaperoned outing with matchmaker Michaleen turns into a stolen tryst in a secluded hilltop cemetery as the lovers, buffeted by wind and rain, succumb to a desire as uncontrollable as the elements.

It's Ford at his most achingly romantic, his actors playing their roles with heartrending conviction.  This is also true of the couple's tempestuous marital relations--for marry they finally do, although a stubborn Danaher, tricked into allowing the marriage, refuses to give Mary Kate her dowry. 

Robbed of what is rightfully hers, she rejects Sean when he fails to understand its symbolic importance to her (independence, validation, self-worth) rendering their marriage a shambles from the start. 

Ford and co-writers Frank S. Nugent and Maurice Walsh fashioned the screenplay for THE QUIET MAN as though concocting a full-course meal.  No sooner do we think we're being served a lighthearted comedy of quaint customs and sexual mores than the course changes to deeply emotional yet sexually-charged romance.

With the ill-fated wedding scene, one thinks the film has crossed over into more complex social satire, and yet here it abruptly veers into the achingly tragic when Sean's agonizing guilt returns in full force. 

How the film not only rebounds from this low point but becomes more emotionally resonant and ultimately more joyous than ever is what makes it such an engaging and thoroughly satisfying experience. 

All the while, THE QUIET MAN is filled with little moments of grace and sweetness which lighten whatever darkness sometimes threatens to overcome it.  Barry Fitzgerald is a joy as Michaleen, the impish cupid who's also the town's bookmaker and most ardent drunkard.  The mutually-supportive relationship between Catholic (Bond) and Protestant (Shields) men of God is disarmingly sweet-spirited.  Danaher, for all his bluster, is a lovable ogre whose weaknesses are pride and a hopeless love for the widow Tillane which he lacks the charm to express.

 

But it's John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, both incredibly effective and appealing actors at their best here, who give THE QUIET MAN its true heart and soul.  Seldom has there been a screen couple with such combustive chemistry.  Theirs is a wonderfully adult romance even in its most childlike and playful moments--we feel that once their unbridled passions are released, it will indeed be, as Michaleen surmises, "Homeric." 

The DVD from Olive Films' "Olive Signature" label is in 1.37:1 with mono sound and English subtitles.  Mastered from a 4K scan of the original camera negative.  There's a commentary by John Ford biographer Joseph McBride that's wall-to-wall and loaded with information.  Other extras include: a tribute to Maureen O'Hara featuring Juliet Mills, Hayley Mills, and Ally Sheedy; a visual essay by historian and Ford expert Tag Gallagher; a biography of Republic Pictures president Herbert J. Yates; a fond remembrance by Ford friend and biographer Peter Bogdanovich; and Leonard Maltin's 1992 featurette "The Making of 'The Quiet Man'."  The keepcase contains an illustrated 8-page booklet.

THE QUIET MAN reaches its climax with a near-breakup of a marriage and the manly settling of a heated dispute through Queensberry-ruled fisticuffs (which becomes a joyful cause célèbre for the entire village and its surroundings), and ends with a curtain call that not only allows the actors to take a bow but their characters to break the fourth wall and warmly acknowledge our presence. (This part is just so cheerful and uplifting that it always chokes me up.)

And, at Ford's behest, Maureen O'Hara playfully whispers something into John Wayne's ear that elicits a genuinely shocked reaction before their characters skip happily into the privacy of their idyllic cottage like a couple of naughty kids.  We'll never know what she says to him, and that's okay. 

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THE QUIET MAN -- DVD Review by Porfle

SGU: STARGATE UNIVERSE 1.5 -- DVD review by porfle

 

 Originally posted on 7/29/10

 

If you read my review of the first half-season of "SGU: Stargate Universe", you'll know that I liked it a lot but had certain reservations about it.  Judging from various message board posts and such, I'm sure many viewers felt the same way.  Fortunately, the release of SGU: STARGATE UNIVERSE 1.5 proves what I'd been hoping for--that the previous episodes were slowly leading up to a marked increase in the action and excitement levels of the show and that certain irritating aspects would be eliminated.  Which is exactly what has happened, barring one or two exceptions.

As before, a number of military and civilian personnel are stranded on a city-sized Ancient starship that's on a seemingly neverending journey through the cosmos, stopping for a few hours whenever it encounters a planet with a stargate and then jumping back into faster-than-light speed.  With Colonel Young (Louis Ferreira, DAWN OF THE DEAD remake) in command, the entire group is under military control, which leads to constant conflicts with the brilliant but unstable Dr. Rush (Robert Carlyle, THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH) and civilian leader Camile Wray (Ming-Na, ER). 

The professional and personal relationships between them and the rest of the ship's inhabitants generate much of the show's dramatic interplay, including a love triangle between true-blue soldier Lt. Matthew Scott (Brian J. Smith), fish-out-of-water senator's daughter Chloe Armstrong (Elyse Levesque), and the lovestruck Eli (David Blue), a neurotic nerd-savant hijacked into service because of his mad gaming skills.  Alaina Huffman plays Lt. Tamara Johansen, the closest thing to a medic on the ship, who carries some pesky romantic baggage with Col. Young.  And then there's Sgt. Greer (Jamil Walker Smith), who's so gung-ho that he seems to relish the thought of occasionally blowing away a civilian or two just to keep them in line.

The first half of the season spent a lot of time setting up the premise and then meandering along with stories about the hazards related to their mysterious starship and the heartbreak of being away from home while trying to find love among the stars.  But now that the writers have worked some of this stuff out of their systems, the show has gotten into gear and started kicking some ass.  With the appearance of a new race of enemy aliens--spindly blue CGI-generated creatures who covet our heroes' Ancient starship--we finally get some cool space battles (as always, the special effects are gorgeous) and deadly shipboard encounters.  Also, the military vs. civilians conflict embodied by Young and Rush erupts into a full-scale mutiny in one of the season's best episodes. 

One of the main improvements is the absence of those damn Kino diaries, which offered characters the chance to philosophize, navel-gaze, and blubber away precious show time with a blatant and boring writer's convenience.  The formula was pretty much the same every time--the subject fiddles with the Kino camera ("Is this on?"), starts to record a personal diary entry, gets either teary and emotional or speechless with inner turmoil, and then slaps their hand over the lens.  It was one of the worst aspects of the show and to my great relief has now been confined solely to the extras menu where it belongs.  However, we must still contend with the frequent appearance of those contemplative montages set to some truly awful emo ballads.  These really need to get sucked into a black hole along with the Kino diaries.

As usual, Robert Carlyle is the main on-camera talent here and makes the abrasive Dr. Rush a continually fascinating character whom we're never quite sure whether to admire or distrust.  Some insight into his backstory give us a little more understanding of his motives and attitudes.  Louis Ferreira's soulful, haunted Colonel Young holds our interest by going against the "infallible leader" type, playing a commander whose decisions may not always be 100% correct and are often swayed by emotion.  Watching these two characters either butt heads or struggle to cooperate for the good of the crew is one of the best things about the show. 

As the dreaded season cliffhanger (I hate those) draws nigh, Young's suspicion that his arch-enemy Colonel Telford (a solid Lou Diamond Phillips) is a mole for the Lucian Alliance leads to Dr. Rush undertaking a highly perilous undercover mission in Telford's body via the communication stones.  Rhona Mitra makes for a very formidable villain as the ruthless Commander Kiva, who has located another Icarus base and is attempting to dial the elusive ninth chevron.  The story arc which follows combines the pulp sci-fi action and suspense of the other Stargate shows with SGU's own darker edge, culminating in a blazing stargate invasion of the ship, a hostage crisis, and a countdown to total destruction, among various other points of interest.

 
The three-disc set (10 episodes) from 20-Century Fox and MGM is in 1.78:1 widescreen with English 5.1 Dolby and Spanish Dolby surround.  Captions are in English, Spanish, and French.  Each episode features a cast and crew commentary.  Extras also include about fifteen "Destiny SML" featurettes and several Kino diaries.  (Blu-Ray contains additional extras.)

With SGU: STARGATE UNIVERSE 1.5, the idea of mixing the sci-fi fun and excitement of the earlier Stargates with a darker, more serious sensibility--something which the first half of the season didn't quite pull off--seems to have finally started realizing its potential and yielding some first-rate episodes.  And suddenly the future of this show is well worth looking forward to.

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SGU: STARGATE UNIVERSE 1.5 -- DVD review by porfle

SGU STARGATE UNIVERSE 1.0 -- DVD review by porfle

Originally posted on 2/15/10
 

 

Having somehow managed to avoid every single previous film and TV incarnation of "Stargate", I delved into the 3-disc DVD set SGU STARGATE UNIVERSE 1.0 (2009) not knowing quite what to expect. After a marathon viewing of all ten episodes (which constitute the first half of the first season), I find that while it isn't mindblowingly awesome, it's still a compelling start with the potential for greater things.

Fans of the saga up till now will know all this, but for us novices: billions of years ago, a race of aliens known as "The Ancients", from whom we are descended, built a series of ring-shaped portals called "stargates" which use wormholes to allow intergalactic travel. Having discovered one of these stargates on another planet, Earth scientists and military have been trying to unlock the "dial-up" code which will access the stargate's transportation function. But just as they do so, Icarus Base is attacked by hostile aliens known as The Lucian Alliance and all military and civilian personnel are forced to escape through the stargate to an unknown destination seconds before the planet explodes.

After their chaotic arrival, they find themselves on an immense, automated starship built long ago by the Ancients, which is speeding through hyperspace billions of light years from Earth for some unknown purpose. The ship, it turns out, slows down whenever it approaches a planet with a stargate, giving the crew a specified time to explore the planet and gather whatever materials they need from it before the ship automatically jumps back into hyperspace. Damage from some long-ago battle has made repair of its life-sustaining functions imperative, and as the passengers struggle to survive they also must deal with interpersonal conflicts and the uncertainty of ever being able to return home.

I like a good "spaceship exploring the cosmos" series and this one is shaping up pretty well so far. Not much has been done with the stargates as of yet--the crew only visit two or three planets in this set--but there's more than enough stuff going on aboard the Destiny to keep things hopping. As is often the case in sci-fi, the military and scientific factions frequently have heated disagreements over their priorities and there's a constant power struggle between stalwart Colonel Everett Young (Justin Louis) and the brilliant but arrogant chief scientist Dr. Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle), with the hapless civilians caught in the crossfire.

Carlyle, a fine actor who played a formidable Bond villain in THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH, makes Dr. Rush a fascinating character whose motives we're never quite sure of. At times he seems to place more importance on research and discovery than on preserving the lives of his shipmates, and some suspect that their presence aboard the Destiny may even be his doing. As his nemesis Colonel Young, Louis brings a soulful intensity to the role which has made him one of my favorite actors since he played Sarah Polley's ill-fated husband in the remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD. The interplay between these two solid actors makes for some of the show's best moments.

Among the military characters are Young's second-in-command, the troubled but heroic Lt. Scott (Brian J. Smith), hotheaded but dependable Sgt. Greer (Jamil Walker Smith), and cowardly, rage-stoked loose cannon Sgt. Spencer (Josh Blacker). Back on Earth, the Destiny's progress is monitored with intense interest by Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill (an amiable Richard Dean Anderson) and Colonel David Telford (Lou Diamond Phillips at his best), who will try not only to usurp Colonel Young's command but, eventually, his lonesome wife as well.

The civilians include Ming-Na ("E.R.") as Camile Wray, a human resources executive who thinks she should be in command, Alaina Huffman as plucky and wise medical officer Tamara Johansen, and David Blue as nerdy math genius Eli Wallace. Eli, recruited straight out of his mom's basement because he was able to break a vital stargate code imbedded into an online videogame, is the vicarious wish-fulfillment character for gamer geeks in the audience and alternates between being amusing and irritating. Another old favorite, Christopher McDonald, plays Senator Alan Armstrong, whose daughter Chloe (Elyse Levesque) finds herself the romantic interest of both Eli and Lt. Scott.

Proving of utmost importance to both the show's characters and its writers are the "communication stones", an Ancient device which allows the Destiny's passengers to temporarily swap bodies with certain Earth personnel. This makes way for a lot of emotional and sometimes soap opera-level scenes of Scott, Chloe, and Young, among others, sharing intimate moments with their friends and loved ones. Telford's body-swaps with Young pose a problem when he aggressively asserts his authority while aboard the Destiny and then later, during a momentary glitch in the transfer, finds himself having sex with Young's wife. (Oops!) The whole idea of someone inhabiting my body and then going off and having sex with people I don't know sorta gives me the willies anyway--who knows what you could catch?

These slow-burn stories are pretty leisurely-paced, with the only whiz-bang space-battle action taking place in the hectic first episode. However, I found them engrossing and often quite intriguing when not bogged down by unnecessary melodrama. In "Light", the ship is knocked off-course and is headed directly for a sun, which means that fifteen passengers must be chosen by lottery to escape in the shuttle while the rest face their impending doom. "Time" finds several of the main characters on a lush jungle planet where they are attacked--and killed--by vicious reptilian creatures, while the rest of the passengers start dying off due to a mysterious virus they've contracted there. (Okay, you know the main characters aren't really going to all die, but it's still an interesting episode.)

In "Life", Dr. Rush discovers a chair which may impart vital knowledge of the ship's functions to whomever sits in it, but only at great risk to his life (not unlike similar devices in FORBIDDEN PLANET and the ST:TOS episode "Spock's Brain"). "Justice", the final episode in the set, begins with one of the main characters shot dead and the gun being discovered in Colonel Young's quarters, leading to him losing his command and finding himself on trial for murder. A shocking revelation and an intriguing cliffhanger ending, with both Young and Rush apparently starting to lose it big-time, round out the set.

My main complaint about SGU STARGATE UNIVERSE is its tendency to grind to a halt in order to indulge in labored, overwrought melodrama, complete with maudlin plinky-piano music, which seems grafted onto the stories rather than contributing to their forward momentum. These detours from the main thrust of the plot are the sort of stuff you usually see under "deleted scenes" in the Extras menu and rightly so. One of the good things about a sci-fi show like BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is that it incorporates the interpersonal drama into the stories so well, something which SGU needs to work on in future episodes.

A major storytelling device which has its ups and downs is the floating camera sphere known as the "Kino", which is important to the crew for reconnaissance (it can be sent through the stargate to retrieve vital advance data) and surveillance, but which is also used by the writers to indulge in weepy, angsty diary entries by the Destiny's inhabitants. (As one IMDb commentator complains: "All they do is stand around on this dark dull boring spaceship moaning about stuff.") We get enough of that kind of soul-baring blather during Dr. Johansen's psych evaluation-confessionals, and all of this emo introspection justs gets to be too much after awhile.

Technically, the show is well-designed with some very nice fly-by shots of the Destiny streaking through hyperspace and a wealth of interesting though often underlit interior sets. Many of the ensemble scenes are directed with a documentary approach rather than the usual one-camera routine, allowing castmembers to use a looser and more theatrical acting style. Joel Goldsmith's music is a plus (except for the drippy plinky-piano stuff), although I could do without the emo-ballad montages.

The 3-disc DVD set from MGM and 20th-Century Fox is in 1.78:1 widescreen with English 5.1 Dolby Digital and Spanish Dolby Surround. Subtitles are in English, Spanish, and French. All episodes feature chatty commentary tracks with the cast and producers. Extras also include an extended version of the pilot "Air", conversations with the cast, numerous Kino diary entries and miscellaneous footage, and a helpful featurette for "Stargate" newbs entitled "Stargate 101: Presented by Dr. Daniel Jackson", which gives a basic history of the franchise.

SGU STARGATE UNIVERSE 1.0 lays the groundwork for what could be an exciting and provocative series that still has much room for improvement. I'll be looking forward to what's in store for us in the future, but for now, these ten introductory episodes provide a generous amount of thought-provoking sci-fi entertainment. Hopefully, the writers have a clear-cut destination in mind for the Destiny and for the show itself instead of trying to drag it out indefinitely--I'd hate to see it turn into "Gilligan's Starship."

Read our review of Season 1.5 here.

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SGU STARGATE UNIVERSE 1.0 -- DVD review by porfle

HOWARD LOVECRAFT AND THE FROZEN KINGDOM -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 9/6/16

 

I've read just enough of legendary horror-fantasy author H.P. Lovecraft's work and seen enough film adaptations of it--which vary wildly in tone, faithfulness, overall quality, and just about everything else--to find the prospect of a CGI-animated adventure starring Lovecraft as a small boy in a dark, monstrous world of his own future imagining to be rather irresistible.

As it turns out, HOWARD LOVECRAFT AND THE FROZEN KINGDOM (2016), based on Arcana's graphic novel of the same name, may not be the greatest CGI cartoon you'll ever see, but it does yield more than sufficient rewards for fans of Gothic horror, particularly if they're either very young or, as in my case, young at heart.   (Not to mention just a tad twisted.)

The richly Gothic atmosphere is thick as molasses from frame one as we visit Lovecraft's boyhood home, which would suit the Addams Family just fine, and then accompany young Howard and his mother to visit his father Winfield Lovecraft at the Arkham-like asylum where he's under the care of a sinister-looking Dr. West (Christopher Plummer, BARRYMORE). 

It's here that the crazed Winfield first tells Howard of dark kingdoms and mystical runes and evil creatures, among other scary things, which the boy will later experience firsthand after his mother gives him Winfield's journal to read before bed. 

As this book happens to be volume one of the Necronomicon itself, Howard inadvertently opens up a portal to another dimension in which he finds himself wandering through a vast frozen land, beset by all manner of surreal and sometimes hostile creatures as he tries to find his way back home. 

This quest resembles a cross between "The Wizard of Oz" and a Tim Burton rarebit dream as Howard first encounters a huge and initially hostile tentacled beast with wings who calls himself Thu Thu Hmong (Howard simplifies this to "Spot") with whom he becomes fast friends, and then spends a charming evening in the home of four winsome squid-kid orphans who share a nice cold meal that tastes best when it's squirming.

 

He and Spot then make their way to the castle of Her Highness Algid Bunk (original "Saturday Night Live" castmember Jane Curtin) and her spectral companion Nyarlathotep (Doug Bradley, HELLRAISER, SCREAM PARK) to ask for help. 

The boy is instructed to first journey to a remote mountain cave to recover another volume of the Necronomicon from the dreaded Shoggoth (Ron Perlman, HELLBOY, MUTANT CHRONICLES), one of author Lovecraft's more fearsome creations, so that the icy curse upon her kingdom can be lifted. 

This leads to the film's big finale, a thrilling free-for-all battle between good and evil with Howard and his friends beset by night-gaunts, govlins, and other Lovecraft creatures--including an appearance by none other than Cthulu himself--which is excitingly staged within Algid's lofty palace by writer-director Sean Patrick O'Reilly (PIXIES), who has ardently worked as much fan-pleasing Lovecraftian arcana into the script as possible.

The character renderings and animation are very well done (like a Viewmaster reel come to life) and the settings intensely atmospheric.  The script, for the most part, manages to maintain just the right balance between kid-friendly spook stuff and elements that are pretty much as dark and morbid as one might expect this material to get. 

The 2-disc set from Shout! Factory (which features a lovely reversible cover insert) includes both the Blu-ray and DVD discs along with a code for downloading a digital copy. The feature is in 1.78:1 widescreen with 5.1 audio and stereo, and English subtitles.  Extras include a substantial behind-the-scenes featurette, a trailer, and a chatty, informative director's commentary that I found quite enjoyable.

I'm not sure how well the average dyed-in-the-wool Lovecraft purist will receive HOWARD LOVECRAFT AND THE FROZEN KINGDOM but I can't imagine anyone with an inner "Monster Kid" not getting a kick out of it.  One thing's for sure--any day you watch it will feel like Halloween.


Note: those who directly order HOWARD LOVECRAFT AND THE FROZEN KINGDOM from ShoutFactory.com will receive an exclusive poster. Available while supplies last! Pre-order now at ShoutFactory.com

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HOWARD LOVECRAFT AND THE FROZEN KINGDOM -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

LOVING -- Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 2/5/17

 

Subtlety is hardly the hallmark of your usual racially-charged potboiler about injustice in the late 1950s-early 1960s American South.  Which is why LOVING (2016), the fact-based account of a black woman and a white man arrested in the state of Virginia in 1958 for the crime of being married, is such a rare experience. 

As the title proclaims, it's a love story, although the love between Richard and Mildred Loving is one they have to fight for.

The trouble is, these simple country people aren't warriors.  Richard is a bricklayer, quiet and unassuming.  Mildred, homemaker and soon-to-be mother, shares these qualities.  They just want to live their lives together and raise a family in the place where they themselves were born. 

After a Virginia court forces them out of the state lest they go to prison on felony charges, the two take up residence in Washington, D.C., but their hearts yearn for home and family.  This gets them into trouble when they return in order for Richard's mother, a professional midwife, to deliver Mildred's first child. 

In a film with no broad, melodramatic strokes, there's a day-to-day realism that gently draws us in and lead performances which are quietly effective.  Joel Edgerton (REVENGE OF THE SITH, THE GIFT, OPEN WINDOW) plays Richard as utterly well-meaning, taciturn almost to a fault, and dedicated to nothing more than providing for his family.

Physically, Edgerton, with his blonde buzzcut and guileless face, reminds me of a cross between Dennis Quaid and the kid who played "Phil" in the "Mr. Bungle" educational film that Pee Wee Herman used to show.  He's often similarly childlike and naive, and doesn't understand why the state of Virginia can't just leave him and his wife in peace.

 

As Mildred, Ruth Negga ("Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.", WORLD WAR Z) shares this reserved disposition until the burgeoning civil rights struggle of the early 60s compels her character to replace passivity with a growing resolve.  It begins with a letter to Bobby Kennedy, who passes it along to a zealous young ACLU lawyer named Bernie Cohen (Nick Kroll) with an eye toward taking the case to the Supreme Court and, just maybe, changing the Constitution.

But LOVING isn't a courtroom drama, and most of the legal matters occur in the periphery as Richard and Mildred continue trying to make the best of things, secretly taking up residence close to their birthplace in Virginia where they dream of finally settling down.

Constantly, the specter of intolerance hangs over them as in the person of a cold, unyielding sheriff (Marton Csokas, LORD OF THE RINGS, ROMULUS MY FATHER, JACK BROWN GENIUS) and various other potentially threatening townspeople. 

Despite the film's stately pace and lack of sensationalism, we're kept on edge with the knowledge that the idyllic existence the Lovings so desperately desire is susceptible to violent attack at any moment. 

Still, we're spared most of the dreadful, lurid excesses of so many other films of this nature, allowing writer/director Jeff Nichols (MIDNIGHT SPECIAL) to indulge himself and us in a sweetly and deeply emotional exploration of the symbiotic relationship between the two main characters--Mildred, quietly supportive but increasingly assertive in the face of adversity, and Richard, who defers to her as long as he can simply continue to lead his life as a good husband and father. 

Much of the backdrop for this story consists of actual locations and the period atmosphere is impeccably rendered.  (Classic car lovers will have a field day.)  The film is pictorially rich, and Nichols directs with a skill and restraint that always best serve the story without calling attention to his craft. 

The 2-disc set from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment contains Blu-ray and DVD versions of the film as well as instructions for downloading a digital HD copy.  Soundtracks and subtitles are available in English, Spanish, and French.  Bonus features include a thoughtful director's commentary as well as the following featurettes: "Making Loving", "A Loving Ensemble", "Loving v. Virginia", and "Virginia: A Loving Backdrop."

The historical importance of this story, of course, is legendary, yet LOVING is the kind of heartfelt personal drama that works its magic with a slow, deceptive subtlety whose cumulative impact is only realized in its final moments.  Indeed, it wasn't until the epilogue, when I felt tears rolling down my cheeks, that I suddenly realized just how effective LOVING really is.  

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This title will be released on February 7, 2017.

LOVING -- Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD Review by Porfle

MAMA'S FAMILY: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION -- DVD Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 10/24/17

 

Those who were there back when "The Carol Burnett Show" began will recall how a likable but callow young actress named Vicki Lawrence was the junior member of the cast, both in terms of age and talent, who usually played either Carol's younger sister or some flakey proto-Valley Girl character. 

That, of course, would change when the show introduced a new reoccurring sketch, "The Family", in which Vicki, amazingly enough, portrayed the sassy and crotchety old matriarch ("Mama") of a lower middle-class clan of smalltown Southern hicks which also consisted of Carol as neurotic daughter "Eunice" and Harvey Korman as her dullard of a husband, "Ed", in hotly dramatic, highly-dysfunctional family situations that were as painful to watch as they were hilarious. 

Vicki came into her own big-time as Mama, so much so that when Carol ended her show after eleven seasons, her producer husband Joe Hamilton immediately came up with a series spin-off called "Mama's Family" and starring Vicki in her classic characterization, beginning in 1982 on NBC.

Two years after its second-season cancellation on NBC, the show was belatedly picked up for the burgeoning first-run syndication market, where it thrived for four more seasons and reached its finale in January 1990. The show would last for six seasons, with all 130 episodes plus lots of extras now available on 22 discs in the Time-Life DVD collection MAMA'S FAMILY: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION.

Such a spin-off seemed inevitable as long as they could come up with another "family" with which Mama could work her magic.  The first two seasons boast Rue McClanahan as Mama's flakey spinster sister Fran and Betty White as her self-centered daughter Ellen.  Frequent "Carol Burnett Show" guest Ken Berry was Mama's cheerfully childlike son Vint, now living in her basement with his sexpot wife Naomi (Dorothy Lyman of "All My Children").

The fact that Vicki Lawrence was a young actress playing an old woman (most, if not all, of her adult cast mates were older) seemed to give her and the writers license to make her curmudgeonly attitude and acerbic remarks even more outrageous.  A certain delight comes from watching Vicki Lawrence pull off this characterization with such stunning success, especially after being in Carol's shadow for so long.  The character seemed to have been hiding inside her all that time, just waiting for a chance to burst forth.

Berry, after starring in the dull "Mayberry R.F.D.", finally gets a chance to play an addlebrained rube who's actually funny. Lyman is the quintessential trailer-park floozy Naomi, who starts out as Mama's adversarial next-door neighbor.  She turns out to be a high school heartthrob of Vint and, to Mama's horror, the two quickly make wedding plans that include a gaudy ceremony right there in Mama's own livingroom. 

The original "Family" segments on Carol's show displayed a frantic, chintzy kind of bargain-basement Southern Gothic that often came off like Tennessee Williams on laughing gas.  This is carried over into the new show's first season with guest appearances by Burnett and Korman, beginning with Vint and Naomi's disastrous two-part wedding episode. 

Carol Burnett's "Eunice", of course, is one of television's most inspired creations and the only one that can outshine Mama in her own setting.  Far beyond just being funny, Eunice is a tragic, monstrously self-absorbed creature whose simmering familial resentments and crushing disappointments in life always come bursting to the surface just in time to destroy any family gathering she's involved in.  And Mama, of course, is always right there with a cutting remark that slices her right in two.

This results in some of the most astoundingly raucous situations and character interplay in sitcom history, aided by McClanahan and White who add to the Southern Gothic family stew with their own long-standing grudges and gripes.  It's a to-die-for cast that any sitcom, or feature film for that matter, would give its left sprocket holes to have.

Their performances are absolutely inspired--after all, how often would they ever get a chance to play such characters in such extreme mock-dramatic situations and at such full tilt?  There's so much talent being utilitzed at its fullest here that, straining within the bounds of a simple TV sitcom as it is, the effect is often dizzying.  (It's a shame Burnett and Korman are around for so few episodes.)

With all of this going on, it hardly matters that the show isn't always "on" or that moments actually do betray the fact that we're watching a simple--and, yes, often kinda dumb--sitcom that relies largely on insult humor.  Because even in that context it does its job so well that we're entertained by the lesser moments while waiting for the great ones.

The characters frequently relish their chance to let fly with some choice zingers--which, like an athlete, they throw their whole body into--and the live audience goes nuts the way they would for shows like "Married With Children." In fact,  this show, surprisingly, often comes off as even more cynical and outrageous than that infamously sleazy series, albeit in more (relatively) subtle ways.

After the network cancellation and syndication reboot, the show lost McClanahan and White (along with Vint's two nondescript teenage kids) and got progressively tamer, with more standard sitcom plots and less of the early seasons' glorious excess.  Even the character of Mama herself seems to mellow somewhat as time goes by (she'd have to or we wouldn't be able to stand her after awhile) although she never completely loses that acidic edge.

The addition of the delightfully off-kilter Beverly Archer as nerdy next-door neighbor Iola gives Mama a like-minded foil to whom she can reveal her more vulnerable side. Allan Kayser also joins the cast as Eunice and Ed's juvenile delinquent son Bubba, with whom Mama gets stuck after his parents move to Florida without telling him. He's sort of a "Jethro" type and serves his purpose as an example of the crazy "younger generation" for old-fashioned Mama to play off of.

Guest stars throughout the show's run include Brent Spiner, William Windom, Geoffrey Lewis, Imogene Coca, Jack Gilford, Jerry Reed, Robert Mandan, Barney Martin, Cliff Osmond, Marge Redmond, Alan Oppenheimer, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Jack Dodson, Richard Dawson, and Alex Trebek.

The DVD set from Time-Life consists of 22 discs (130 episodes from original broadcast masters) in six cases with slipcover.  Approximate running time is 55 hours.  Episodes are in 1.33:1 full screen and stereo sound.  Each of the six season sets contains a wealth of bonus features such as a roundtable cast reunion and lengthy interviews with cast and crew including Vicki Lawrence, Carol Burnett, Ken Berry, Betty White, Dorothy Lyman, Beverly Archer, Allan Kayser, costume designer Bob Mackie, and executive producer Rick Hawkins.

"Mama's Family Tree" featurettes take a look at the show's various characters and their relationships.  There are two vintage "Family" segments from "The Carol Burnett Show", one featuring guest star Maggie Smith. 

Best of all, we get the 1982 TV-movie "Eunice", a real-time, in-studio theatrical play that follows the Harper family--Mama, Eunice, sister Ellen (White), and successful brother Phillip (Berry again), along with Harvey Korman's "Ed"--from Eunice's turbulent teen years in the 50's to the day of Mama's funeral in the late 70s. 

"Eunice" is absolutely prime stuff, a full-bodied, powerful, incredibly written and performed comedy-drama that has the live audience on its feet during the emotional curtain call.  It's the pinnacle of Burnett's "Eunice" character, played to the hilt, and is alone worth owning the set.

From its turbulent early episodes, each like a gleefully-staged trainwreck, to its more mellow final years, "Mama's Family" was one of the most enjoyably oddball examples of the sitcom genre ever to bombast its way across our television screens. MAMA'S FAMILY: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION takes all that controlled chaos, puts a lace doily on it, and lets us relive it all over again.


Available exclusively at Walmart
Read our original coverage HERE

MAMA'S FAMILY: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION -- DVD Review by Porfle

PORFLE VS. PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW WHO LARRY STORCH IS

 

(In honor of the great Larry Storch, star of "F Troop" and the original "Ghost Busters", who passed away on July 8, 2022, here's an oldie I wrote several years ago which expresses the high regard in which I have always held this wonderful comic actor.)

"What the hell do you mean, 'who's Larry Storch?'"

"I mean I don't know who the hell Larry Storch is!  Who the hell is Larry Storch?"

Infuriating, isn't it?  If you're like me, and find yourself in this situation at least once a day, you can understand why there are so many sudden, unexplained attacks across America every day.  Chances are, it's someone who knows who Larry Storch is attacking someone who doesn't know who he is.

Here's an example that may sound woefully familiar to you: several years ago I got set up on a blind date, and I gallantly called the young lady up in advance to verify the time and place where we'd meet--which, by the way, was a Denny's on Wilton Boulevard, since I wanted to impress her.  She asked me what I looked like, and I told her (again, wanting to impress her) that I resembled actor Larry Storch.

"Who's Larry Storch?" she inquired.

"What the hell do you mean, 'who's Larry Storch?'" I screamed, a volcanic eruption of blazing hot fury erupting like a million geysers from every fiber of my tortured being.

"I mean I don't know who the hell Larry Storch is!  Who the hell is Larry Storch?" she persisted, incredibly unaware of her own utter stupidity.

"What are you, incredibly unaware of your own utter stupidity or something?" I shrieked, kicking the glass walls out of the phone booth that I was standing in and repeatedly smashing my body into the frame until the whole thing fell over into the street with a resounding crash.  "ARE YOU SOME KIND OF A TOTAL F**KING IDIOT?  GRRRRRRR!!!  By the way, that's the Denny's on Wilton Boulevard, not the one next to the bowling alley on Burton Street."

Well, she never showed up.  She was probably too embarrassed by her own utter stupidity to show her face, and you can hardly blame her, but she could at least have stopped by my house later for the obligatory blind-date sex that I have come to expect over the years.  I've never actually had sex on a blind date, of course, but I have come to expect it.  Anyway, it's just as well, because I found out later that she looked more like Larry Storch than I do.

I guess one of the reasons that women who look like Larry Storch don't know who he is might be that people are reluctant to tell these women that they look like Larry Storch.  But that's still no excuse for never having heard of him.  Anyone who's ever watched an episode of "F Troop" or "Ghost Busters" should not only know who he is, but should in fact consider him to be one of the greatest human beings who ever walked the face of the earth, next to Robert Loggia and Ben Gazzara.  They should also know who Forrest Tucker is as well, since he co-starred in both of those series with Larry Storch.

Well, I brought all of this up at a political fundraiser that I attended several years ago, in an attempt to liven up what I considered to be some pretty boring chit-chat amongst a gaggle of pseudo-sophisticates who were standing around sipping drinks and tittering a lot.  When the mayor's wife gaily inquired, "Who's Forrest Tucker?" I poured my drink in her face.  As I congratulated myself for my restraint, another total moron--I think it was the mayor--chimed in with, "How dare you!  And 'Ghostbusters' was a movie with Bill Murray in it, not a television series!"

Again I held my temper, and responded by merely flinging the hors d'ouevres table over, drenching several people with caviar and other gooey, expensive treats.  But then, just as I was returning to my usual casual demeanor, I heard a voice say, "Yeah, and who the hell's Larry Storch?"  The next few moments are still a blur in my memory, but the next day there was a picture of me on the front page of the newspaper in which some quick-thinking photographer had managed to catch me in mid-air as I hurled myself at the governor with the crazed look of a kabuki dancer.

My interest in politics continued when I later attended the Carter-Ford debate and, after furiously waving my hand for several minutes, managed to get called upon to ask the presidential candidates a question.  When the guy held the microphone up to my face I took a deep breath, cleared my throat, and asked, "How do you feel about Larry Storch?"  A perplexed Jimmy Carter smiled uncertainly and asked, "Who's Larry Storch?"

Just as I was about to charge the stage and hurl myself at him, Gerald Ford responded confidently, "Larry Storch is the greatest actor who ever lived.  Perhaps even the greatest human being who ever lived."  Banging the podium to emphasize each word, he added, "I...love...Larry...Storch!" The audience erupted with unrestrained cheers and applause! Well, I did, anyway.  And I sure as hell voted for Gerald Ford that year.  Jimmy Carter won, though, and, as you might expect, my extensive campaign to have Larry Storch's Birthday declared a national holiday was totally ignored by the government of the United States of America for the next four years.  Talk about malaise.  That, and possibly the Iran hostage situation as well, resulted in Carter losing his bid for re-election.  Take that, Carter!  Betcha know who Larry Storch is now!  BWAH-ha-ha!!!

Well, I've cut down on my attacks in recent years.  Maybe because of the wisdom and maturity that come with age, or maybe because I was getting beaten up a lot.  But the realization that attacking people because they don't know who Larry Storch is might not be a good thing to do finally came to me as I was discussing future attacks with my trusted consigleri, Tom Hagen.  Tom, not a wartime consigleri, is often the voice of reason in contrast with my unrestrained hostility, as can be heard in the following exchange...

TOM: Now, former President Carter and the Governor of Texas are on the run. Are they worth it? And are we strong? Is it worth it? I mean you've won...you want to attack everybody?

PORFLE: I don't feel I have to attack everybody, Tom. Just people who don't know who Larry Storch is, that's all. Now, are you gonna come along with me in these things I have to do or what? Because if not, you can take your "F Troop", your "Ghost Busters", and your "Dean Martin Celebrity Roast" DVDs...trade 'em all in for Adam Sandler movies.

TOM: Why do you hurt me, Porfle? I've always been loyal to you. I mean, what is this?

PORFLE: You're right, Tom.  I should stop attacking people who don't know who Larry Storch is.

TOM: Well, you should try to cut down, anyway.

PORFLE VS. PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW WHO LARRY STORCH IS

HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL -- DVD review by porfle

  Originally posted on 8/22/14

 

When two great tastes go together, it can create something magically delicious. Thus, when someone back in 1958 had the bright idea of mixing the cool-cat teen angst of REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE with the old-fogey paranoia toward the dreaded marijuana of REEFER MADNESS, out hopped the hipster hoot HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL (1958) to tickle our cinematic taste buds.

The film declares its intention to lure the nation's youth by opening with none other than Jerry Lee Lewis belting out the rockin' theme song from the back of a truck that's toodling slowly by the titular institution. Following closely behind is bad-boy new kid in school Tony Baker, played by Russ Tamblyn (who still had the highs of WEST SIDE STORY and the lows of DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN in his future).

Russ looks like the kind of guy girls used to beat up back in high school, but here, he's the most bad-ass thing to hit the hallowed halls of Hop-Head High since ducktails and saddle shoes. Why, he even pulls out a "reefer" in the Principal's office! No doubt about it, this slang-spoutin' kid's a rebel.

We then get a load of the rest of the cast, and it's a doozy--Jan Sterling as Miss Williams, the hot teacher with the heart of gold, Diane Jergens as gullible student Joan, who's being led down the path of marijuana addiction by the creepy J.I. (played by Drew's dad John Drew Barrymore), and--as Tony's aunt, "Gwen Dulaine", no less--the torpedo-chested blonde bombshell Mamie Van Doren.

There's also Jackie "Uncle Fester" Coogan (continuing his upward climb from dreck like MESA OF LOST WOMEN to better material that would also include THE BEAT GENERATION and SEX KITTENS GO TO COLLEGE, which reunited him with Mamie van Doren) as local drug kingpin "Mr. A", Charles Chaplin, Jr., Mel Welles of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, William Wellman, Jr., Ray Anthony, Ed Wood regular Lyle Talbot as a shady police inspector, and the previous year's "Teenage Werewolf" himself, a pre-"Bonanza" Michael Landon. (I haven't found Gil Perkins or William Smith yet.)

Our boy Tony wastes no time demonstrating to everyone how tough and super-cool he is, and letting it be known that he's in the market to deal some weed to his classmates in need. This gets him introduced to Mr. A, but first he makes a little time with both Miss Williams and the jittery Joan, who is fast acquiring a marijuana monkey on her back. Of course, there's also the expected run-ins with various tough guys from school including J.I. and his gang of jock-types known as "The Wheeler-Dealers", whom Tony smirkingly blows off by waving his switchblade around.

In lieu of REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE's nerve-jangling "chicky run" is a nocturnal auto race that ends with Tony and Joan being hauled in by the cops when Tony's bag of reefers pops out of his hubcap, which we could've told him was a dumb place to hide them right before an auto race anyway. The fact that there's a horrifying car crash in which the driver emerges bloodied but unharmed (and even smiling cheerfully) seems to tell young viewers that such dangerous activities are okay as long as they remain unsullied by the evil weed.

An incessant amount of jive lingo is the order of the day for these young punks. "Man, you sure told off the fuzz in the pokey!" "Crazy!" "What a drag--you bugged this jam like a real L-7!" There's a coffee-house hangout reminiscent of "The Purple Pit" from Jerry Lewis' 1963 hit THE NUTTY PROFESSOR in which hot jazz is accompanied by some of the worst beat poetry ever recited by kids who appear to be in their 20s, and in some cases 30s.

When Joan tries to light up at their table, Tony lets her have it: "Hey, you torchin' up? Now don't be a drag, kitten--we don't wanna get caught with the reefer again! I had enough of the pokey and all that jazz." But even here, the mood is on the brighter side of sleazy, and by the last fifteen minutes or so the whole thing starts to resemble an episode of a high-end 50s cop show, including a brawl and a shoot-out.

When Tony finally gets a meeting with Mr. A, Coogan deftly lays on the sleaze as he describes how poor Doris, suffering in agony from heroin withdrawal in the next room (the inevitable result of smoking reefer), wouldn't cooperate with his offer to turn her on if she'd work in his "nice little 'home' upstate. But--heh--she wants to be a 'lady.'" At this point Tony definitely seems to be in over his head and looking at a forecast of unexpected danger with the possibility of scattered bullets.

The film boasts the usual solid direction by 50s superstar Jack Arnold (CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, and numerous other classics) and the DVD print displays good, crisp quality for the most part, albeit a little rough and imperfect in spots--which, with a movie like this, is just the way I like it.

Arnold seems to have a ball directing some of this fun-filled stuff, especially one sparks-filled dialogue scene between competing blondes Mamie Van Doren and Jan Sterling in which super-slinky Mamie delivers her sassy, hardboiled dialogue with dazzling aplomb. Later, she's like a female barracuda as she tries to seduce her "hunky" nephew Tony, cooing "What's cookin'?" as he gets dressed and telling him he'd better "tell that Staples kid to drop dead!"

The DVD from Olive Films is in 2.35:1 widescreen with English mono sound. No subtitles or extras.

HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL may deliver pretty much the same "marijuana leads to ruin" message as REEFER MADNESS, but not nearly as stridently or with as strong an intent to shock or scare. There's a bizarre curtain call ending in which the narrator assures us all is well and that from now on, "Joan will confine her smoking to regular cigarettes." But a final blast of that theme song by Jerry Lee Lewis seems to portend a little something called "the 60s" that was just around the corner.

Buy it at Amazon.com:

Blu-ray

DVD

HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL -- DVD review by porfle

SHED OF THE DEAD -- Movie Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 4/19/19

 

Still need your "zombie comedy" fix after SHAUN OF THE DEAD? If so, you might want to try a visit to the SHED OF THE DEAD (2019, Indican Pictures).

Monty Python's Arthur Jackson may have had two sheds, but one's enough to get Trevor (Spencer Brown) into trouble. It sits on one of many verdant plots of land where nice British people do their gardening, but Trevor's plot has gone to seed while he stays in his shed meticulously crafting medieval warrior figures with which to have intense fantasy wargames with his corpulent nerdy friend Graham (Ewen MacIntosh, "The Office").

The proper gardeners, led by Mr. Parsons (a very proper Kane Hodder), are threatening to have Trevor evicted, but their plans are thwarted by the onset of a very inconvenient zombie apocalypse.

 

It takes a while for this to fully spread into their little neck of the suburbs, however (Trevor manages to miss all the frantic radio reports), and in the meantime we observe out-of-work Trevor's dicey relationship with nagging wife Bobbi (Lauren Socha) and her dominatrix friend Harriet (Emily Booth, GRINDHOUSE), for whom Graham carries a very long, hard torch.

The action stops every once in awhile to delve into some of Trevor's medieval wargame fantasies in which he plays magical warrior knight Casimir. These interludes are nicely rendered with some fairly good green screen and well-drawn motion comics. 

Back in the real world, things really get going when Trevor accidentally kills Mr. Parsons and, while cutting up the body for a hasty burial, is attacked by the now-zombiefied Mr. Parsons' legless torso within the cramped confines of his tiny shed.  It's one of the film's goriest sequences, and lets us know that the laughs in this movie will definitely be tempered by occasional bursts of the old ultra-violence.

While the photography's a bit murky at times, production values are good and director Drew Cullingham (A VAMPIRE'S TALE, BLACK SMOKE RISING) stretches his budget dollars (or pounds, in this case) quite well.  When the zombie attacks finally occur, there's good use of extras to make the zombie horde look larger and more menacing. 

An old-fashioned zombie siege takes place when Trevor, Bobbi, Harriet, and Graham end up fighting off the undead as they invade Trevor and Bobbi's house.  There are some very imaginative variations on the familiar tropes, with Trevor and Graham taking on aspects of their wargaming alter egos, and just as things look hopeless the script pulls off some nice twists that send the whole thing off with a bang. 

Performances by the leads are fine, with Spencer Brown's Trevor carrying most of the seriocomic weight while the rest provide ample support. The rest of the cast comes with quite a substantial pedigree, with the aforementioned Kane Hodder (FRIDAY THE 13TH, OLD 37, BTK, CHILLERAMA) as Mr. Parsons, Michael Berryman (THE HILLS HAVE EYES, THE TENANT) in a delightful turn as one of Harriet's clients, Bill Moseley (HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES, THE CHURCH) as dedicated zombie hunter "Doc", and Brian Blessed (FLASH GORDON, "I, Claudius") providing full-throated narration.

While hardly a Romero-level epic, SHED OF THE DEAD pulls its weight as a funny, suspenseful, gore-drenched zombie romp that takes a nice, big, juicy chomp out of the genre and really gives us something to chew on. 


Buy it from Indican Pictures

TECH SPECS
Runtime: 85 minutes
Format:  2:35
Sound: Dolby Sr.
Country: USA
Language: English

SHED OF THE DEAD -- Movie Review by Porfle

PATRICK (1978) -- Blu-ray/DVD review by porfle

 Originally posted on 3/22/14

 

I don't know about you, but my initial introduction to the Australian film boom of the late 70s-early 80s came mainly from the pay-cable channel Cinemax, a redheaded stepchild to HBO which, in those days, was kind of like having your own private small-screen drive-in.  It was there that I first saw (and taped for repeated viewings) such entertaining genre flicks from "dan-unda" as MAD MAX, ROAD GAMES,  and DEAD KIDS (aka STRANGE BEHAVIOR).

One which I considered the lesser of the bunch at the time was a strange little tale called, simply, PATRICK (1978).  Maybe I just watched it wrong, or didn't really pay proper attention to its rather stately-paced story.  Maybe it was the cheap dubbing with American voices that the U.S. distributors insisted on, or perhaps it was the murky pan-and-scan print.  Anyway,  I wasn't very impressed.

Now,  however, thanks to Severin Films' current release of several of these old faves on Blu-ray, I've had a chance to rewatch, reappraise, and, finally, newly appreciate PATRICK for what it is--a solid, engrossing horror/suspense thriller that really sticks to your ribs. 

Not the least of the reasons why it's so good is that it was directed by Hitchcock aficionado Richard Franklin, who would go on to make the aforementioned ROAD GAMES and, true to his devotion to the master of suspense, the belated Hitchcock sequel PSYCHO II. 

PATRICK definitely looks like it was made by someone who studied a lot of Hitchcock films, especially PSYCHO (even the hospital in the story resembles that spooky old house behind the Bates Motel).  Brian May's typically lush and powerful musical score, while sounding distinctly May-esque, follows suit by paying tribute to Bernard Herrmann in several key moments. (Note: If you listen to the Italian language track you can hear the alternate musical score by Goblin!)

And just as Norman Bates murdered his mother and her lover before the action in that film begins, here we see a pre-titles sequence in which a troubled young Patrick (Robert Thompson, THIRST), ambulatory for the only time in the movie, surprises his mother and a soapy suitor by tossing an electric heater into their bathtub.  When next we see him three years later, he's comatose in a hospital bed,  stiff as a plank, his eyes perpetually open wide. 

Jittery,  excitable Dr. Roget (renowned actor and ballet dancer Robert Helpmann of CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG and THE RED SHOES) has trouble finding nurses to tend the creepy patient so orders his reluctant head nurse to hire Kathy Jacquard (Susan Penhaligon, THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT) on the spot when she applies for the job after separating from her husband.

It's during Kathy's private quality time with Patrick that she begins to suspect he's conscious and aware, a suspicion borne out when she discovers that he can use his mental powers to communicate with her via the typewriter she uses for hospital clerical work.  Patrick's telekinetic powers become more pronounced and more deadly when his burgeoning love for her turns to violent jealousy against her ex-husband Ed (Rod Mullinar, THIRST, BREAKER MORANT) and would-be lover Dr. Brian Wright (Bruce Barry). 

He also strikes back in a big way against Dr. Roget when the doc starts experimenting on him secretly, and Matron Cassidy (Julia Blake, X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE), the head nurse who thinks Patrick should be euthanized.  Patrick's clashes with these two medical authority figures who hold his fate in their hands provide the film with some of its most gripping passages. 

Also keeping us on the edge of our seats are Patrick's homicidal thought crimes directed at the increasingly hapless men in Kathy's life.  Some signs of his growing power are as subtle as the water in Brian's swimming pool rippling as he and Kathy get romantic.  Elsewhere, an opening elevator door (which we know should be out-of-order) beckons Ed inside for what will prove to be a lengthy detour on his way upstairs to visit Kathy at the hospital. 

Strangely enough, there isn't a whole lot of violence in PATRICK,  at least nowhere near as much as you might expect.  I don't even think it ever shows any of his victims actually dying on camera.  (We do see a frog death that animal lovers will find disturbing despite a disclaimer that the frogs in the film were killed under some kind of official zoological supervision.) 

Susan Penhaligon is a likable heroine, while Helpmann overacts wonderfully as the sort of doctor who's a little too fond of weird research.  As the title character, Robert Thompson doesn't do much besides lie there the whole time, but he certainly has the perfect look for Patrick--you take one gander at that tensed, malevolent face and bulging eyes and you know something diabolical is going on in that supposedly dead brain.

Best of all, perhaps, is Julia Blake as Matron Cassidy.  Hers is a performance that can really be savored and admired.  There's a terrific scene in which her character is chewing out Kathy for getting too "close" to Patrick, and for five minutes or so her expert delivery makes the film absolutely riveting.  Later, she's at the center of one of the more suspenseful and Hitchcock-like sequences as she creeps surreptitiously through the darkened hospital with the aim of finally pulling the plug on Patrick once and for all.

The story takes its own sweet time getting started, so some modern viewers may be bored stiff wondering when the non-stop bloody thrills and gore are going to start flying at them.  This is the kind of film you settle into and allow it to weave its leisurely but increasingly compelling story--sort of like curling up with a good book instead of playing a fast-paced video game.  If you're not in a big hurry to be thrilled, it's well worth sitting back and letting it go about building up to some creepy and sometimes shocking situations.

The Blu-ray/DVD combo from Severin Films is in 1.77:1/16x9 anamorphic widescreen with English, Spanish, French, and Italian Dolby 2.0 sound.  No subtitles.  Extras include an informative Richard Franklin commentary track, original trailer and TV spots, an hour's worth of entertaining cast and crew interviews from the documentary "Not Quite Hollywood", a vintage TV interview with Franklin, and two fun Easter eggs--one is a trailer for the lurid Italian sequel, and the other a TV spot that should be a treat for fans of "The CBS Late Movie."  The film's original cut was 140 minutes, the USA cut 96 minutes--this print runs for about 112.

PATRICK is a good example of the distinctive Richard Franklin style, a bit like early Argento or Cronenberg in that it sometimes hints of that kind of vibe. There's a sure hand at work here although you don't really see any "style" until it's needed, and never for its own sake.   Neither a rollercoaster ride nor a cold blast of horror from out of an abattoir, this is simply a solid, involving, and satisfying old-school horror tale that you don't have to be brain-dead to appreciate.

Buy the Blu-Ray/DVD combo at Amazon.com

PATRICK (1978) -- Blu-ray/DVD review by porfle