SIN IN THE SUBURBS (1964) -- Movie Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 12/8/18

 

SIN IN THE SUBURBS (1964) is writer-director Joe Sarno continuing to come into his own as a filmmaker who takes the genre of naughty, softcore sex potboilers and invests it with an unusual dramatic heft and interesting characters who trade dialogue that's sharp and fun to listen to.

Not to say that the obligatory sleaze and tawdriness of such films are missing here--it's the sort of world Sarno's characters exist in, whether they be conniving lowlifes using sex for gain or well-to-do hypocrites posing as model citizens while indulging forbidden sexual perversions behind closed doors.

The term "when the cat's away" really fits this normal-looking 60s suburb in which lonely, sex-hungry wives, feeling neglected by their working husbands, have it off with various neighbors, workmen, or, in the case of Mrs. Lewis (Audrey Campbell, THE SEXPERTS), her teen daughter Kathy's high school friend.

Meanwhile, we see local sex-bomb Yvette lounging around the house in lingerie and paying the furniture bill by seducing the collector.  Yvette lives with her supposed "brother" Louis (W.B. Parker), and together they're hatching a scheme to start an illicit sex club which they hope will have frustrated neighbors shelling out hundreds of bucks for.

What starts out a bit like a sex comedy (the bill collector guy is funny) soon veers toward the dramatic as the sexual vortex so many of the characters seem caught in starts to spin out of control.  Lisa, left alone while husband Henry is at work, starts guzzling booze and luring abusive workmen into her home. Mrs. Lewis has daytime swingers' parties with friends in her own house, one of which is walked in upon by a her shocked daughter Kathy.

Kathy, it seems, has the wildest life of them all when she's molested by her would-be boyfriend and then seduced into a hot lesbian affair with Yvette. Judy Young plays her with just the right balance between still just a kid and becoming a troubled, sexually-confused young woman.

It's almost the stuff soap operas are made of, but it's all so edgy (for its time) and starkly compelling that we're constantly transfixed by what's going on and eager to see what happens next.  Sarno's evolving as a director with an instinctive talent for staging interesting shots and bringing out the best in his cast.

The story content is strictly adults-only for 1964, with elements such as adultery, attempted rape, lesbianism, and other sensitive subjects that were still taboo.  It feels like we're watching something on the shady side, getting a voyeuristic glimpse at these desperate sinful lives.

Sarno's screenplay goes beyond simple sexploitation and builds to an emotionally jarring ending after one of Yvette and Louis' illicit sex parties, which is staged remarkably and with lasting effect.

Sarno's black-and-white photography is crisp, noirish, and constantly interesting to look at.  The print used for Film Movement's Blu-ray edition is very good, even with the occasional scratches, specks, etc. which, for me, give it a nostalgic feel that recalls the well-worn prints we used to see at the local theater or on late-night TV.

Having just watched the original Star Trek episode "I, Mudd" the night before, I was surprised to see the actor who played the android "Norman", Richard Tatro, as the dangerous guy Lisa foolishly opens her front door to.

Yvette is played by none other than Dyanne Thorne (billed here as Lahna Monroe) of "Ilsa, She-Wolf of the S.S." fame, looking almost unrecognizable with her jet-black bouiffant hairdo. The film's one bit of actual nudity is a fleeting glimpse of her bare breasts.

SIN IN THE SUBURBS ends with a shadowy, poignant shot that looks like it might be straight out of early David Lynch.  And with it continues my fondness for Joe Sarno's exquisite black-and-white early films, which are unlike anything else I've seen.

Read our reviews of other Joe Sarno films HERE

SIN IN THE SUBURBS (1964) -- Movie Review by Porfle

BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 12/7/09

"Why," asks the tagline for 2009's BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, "would a man frame himself for murder?" Hmm--because he's stupid? Or maybe because he's an ambitious young TV-news reporter who wants to prove that a big-shot district attorney, in a bid to become the next governor, has been planting DNA evidence to help him win high-profile murder cases?

If you chose either of those possibilities, you get a cigar. Jesse Metcalfe (LOADED, JOHN TUCKER MUST DIE) plays C.J. Nicholas, the boyish newshound with the half-baked scheme to have himself charged with the brutal murder of a prostitute with the help of his cameraman, Finley (Joel Moore). With an industrious fervor, they plant just about every bit of fake evidence necessary to have the cops come knocking at C.J.'s door with a warrant, led by the always likable Orlando Jones as Detective Ben Nickerson. Stupid mission accomplished!

But before you can say "oops", the DVD evidence needed to clear C.J. of the charges and prove district attorney Mark Hunter (Michael Douglas) guilty of evidence tampering is destroyed. Cut to our brilliant reporter on death row awaiting his execution by lethal injection. Can you say "duh"?

But wait--as chance would have it, C.J. has been romancing Hunter's pretty assistant, Ella (Amber Tamblyn, "Joan of Arcadia"), and she embarks on a little Nancy Drew action to try and clear his name. But Hunter's onto her, and sics his burly bad-cop henchman on her. Will she live long enough to save the day?

A remake of the 1956 film noir directed by Fritz Lang, this low-grade thriller by writer-director Peter Hyams (THE STAR CHAMBER, OUTLAND, 2010), which was filmed in Shreveport, Louisiana, is little more than a mildly-interesting way to waste an hour and a half. Hyams rushes us through the plot as though he's afraid to linger on anything for more than a few seconds, making it impossible for us to really get to know these characters or invest any emotion in them.

This is reflected in the choppy, hyper editing, which bombards us with way too many different shots and camera angles even in the slower scenes. Major story points and exposition are often revealed by on-the-spot TV reporters covering the trial, making us feel as though we've missed whole scenes. This kind of hurried-along, shorthand storytelling gives the film a flat, distant feeling that is in evidence even in the love scenes between C.J. and Ella, which are perfunctory at best, and drain much of the suspense from the courtroom scenes themselves, which should have been the film's high point. Murky cinematography and sound, along with one of master film composer David Shire's least effective scores, also fall short of the mark.

The story comes to life during its action and suspense sequences. Hyams delivers a rousing chase scene in the first half, with a frantic Finley racing to get to the courtroom on time with the evidence to clear C.J. as Hunter's crooked cop pursues him with intent to kill. Another chase in a parking garage has the bad guy trying to run down a fleeing Ella--there's a really neat shot of her cowering against a pillar as he does doughnuts around her in his car. In a less frenetic scene, Ella tries to steal some restricted files from a police computer before the cop in charge returns and catches her, generating some mild Hitchcock-style suspense. Here, the editing serves the film well for a change.

Metcalf and Tamblyn do what they can with their underwritten characters, but we never have more than a superficial interest in them. Douglas, of course, can make the most of material like this without breaking a sweat, and it's a shame his character wasn't fleshed out more--it would've been interesting to see him given more to do. As it is, he advances the plot and that's about it. On a positive note, none of the actors attempts one of those comically fake-sounding Southern accents that one sometimes hears in these Louisiana-based productions.

The DVD from Anchor Bay is in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Surround 5.1 and English and Spanish subtitles. Extras include a commentary with Hyams and Metcalfe, and two brief (less than four minutes apiece) featurettes. One is a making-of promo, "The Whole Truth--The Making of 'Beyond a Reasonable Doubt'" and the other, "Criminal Forensics--The Burden of Proof" features an ex-cop discussing how crime-scene evidence is collected and processed.

It's hard to sink your teeth into BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT--it's like sitting down to a steak dinner and being served a bowl of Jello. You might even be a little amazed at how rushed the story's resolution is, although just when you think it's over, there's a nifty twist right before the fadeout that almost makes the whole viewing experience worthwhile. It's too little too late, but I liked it.

 

BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT -- DVD Review by Porfle

The Three Stooges: Reusable Endings (For Non-Remakes) (video)

 

Three Stooges' remakes often used the same footage for their endings...

...but sometimes unrelated non-remakes did too.

And in at least one case the ending was identical!

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

The Three Stooges: Reusable Endings (For Non-Remakes) (video)

The Three Stooges in "Start Cheering" (video)

 

In this 1938 Columbia comedy starring Jimmy Durante, the boys do a cameo bit as football tackling dummies. Talk about typecasting! Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

The Three Stooges in "Start Cheering" (video)

RIGHTEOUS KILL -- DVD review by porfle

Originally posted on 1/4/09

Robert De Niro and Al Pacino--a pairing of dynamic acting talents that still gets one's attention the way it did back in '95 when Michael Mann first brought them together as the opposing leads in his bullet-riddled crime drama HEAT (although they only actually shared two scenes together). Perhaps the team-up of Bob and Al doesn't quite generate the same kind of heat in 2008 as it did then, but it's still a good deal of fun to see them on the screen together in Jon Avnet's cop drama RIGHTEOUS KILL, a vehicle that's almost but not quite worthy of them.

Veteran homicide detectives Turk (De Niro) and Rooster (Pacino) are old-school NYPD cops with a hands-on approach to handling bad guys. Turk in particular seems to have an anger management problem, and when certain vile criminals who have escaped justice due to legal technicalities start getting executed left and right, suspicion begins to fall upon him.

The fact that the film opens with Turk giving a videotaped confession would seem to render things a bit too cut-and-dried, and indeed we begin to consider other possibilities. Could he be taking the rap for his partner? Or perhaps even his forensic-specialist girlfriend, Karen (Carla Gugino)? The two younger cops who are working the case with them, Perez (John Leguizamo) and Riley (Donnie Wahlberg), seem exceedingly anxious to pin the murders on Turk. Might one of them be the killer?

One of the most interesting things about Russell Gewirtz' screenplay is the exploration of how much a cop may be capable of taking the law into his own hands when he has the power to do so. What if you know for certain that someone's guilty of a heinous crime, but he gets off? Is it right to frame him for something he didn't do, so that he'll get his deserved punishment? The moral dilemma is intensified when the vigilante action escalates from planting evidence to outright execution--the "righteous kill." And although Turk and Rooster both seem equally hard-nosed and ruthless, the difference between how far each is willing to go to exact justice may lead to ruin for one or both of them.

The casting of the two leads is great, but not the major event it might have been. Our overfamiliarity with Robert De Niro, especially as a comic figure in films such as MEET THE PARENTS, seems to have diluted the "actor" mystique he had back in the TAXI DRIVER and RAGING BULL days. Likewise with Pacino, no longer the riveting young talent from THE GODFATHER or SCARFACE, now the "hoo-ahh" guy with the big hair and the peacock strut who sometimes seems content to hang back and let his considerable presence carry a role. Which is enough, really, because each of these guys carries sufficient weight to make any film better, and who can resist seeing them playing off of each other?

They do seem to be on auto-pilot at times--De Niro's not really feelin' some of that less-than-thrilling dialogue, while Pacino often just seems to be having fun--but when they're on, as they are in several key scenes, we get some of that dangerous intensity that has always made them exciting. Especially De Niro, whose character starts to get a little scary later on because we really don't know what he'll do next. With Pacino, it eventually becomes apparent that his character's jovial fascade hides something more ominous than is first apparent, and he brings his old skills to bear when it counts.

Carla Gugino, who played Marv's gorgeous parole officer in SIN CITY, is well cast and makes the most of some juicy scenes with the two leads. Leguizamo and Wahlberg do good work here, as does the reliable Brian Dennehy as Lieutenant Hingis, who grudgingly begins to suspect that Turk is the killer. As the cocky criminal Spider, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson proves that he's as adept at pretending to be a gangsta onscreen as he is onstage. And in a smaller role, Melissa Leo of TV's "Homicide: Life on the Street" is very good as the distraught mother of a murdered child.

Jon Avnet's direction is workmanlike and unflashy, the look of the film hovering somewhere between top-grade gloss and assembly-line competence. Although there is quite a bit of violence and tension along the way, what's missing is a hard-edged, gritty realism that would've pushed this film to a higher level. Even so, the action and suspense keep things moving while the performances are often impressive. And although I actually saw the twist ending coming from a few blocks away, the final revelation and emotional ending (which has faint echoes of that last scene in HEAT) are rewarding.

The 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen image and Dolby Surround 5.1 sound are both good. Director Avnet provides an informative scene-specific commentary. Extras include two featurettes, "The Investigation: An In-Depth Look at 'Righteous Kill'" and "The Thin Blue Line: An Exploration of Cops & Criminals", the latter being of special interest as it exposes some of the real-life incidents that inspired the screenplay, with comments from actual cops. Subtitles are in English SDH and Spanish.

While this isn't quite the world-shaking pairing of De Niro and Pacino that some of us always wished for, RIGHTEOUS KILL is still a solid, exciting story for them to bluster around in. And there are definitely a lot of things in this world that are less fun than watching these two legendary tough guys playing out-of-control New York homicide cops with itchy trigger fingers. If that sounds like fun to you, then by all means check it out.

RIGHTEOUS KILL -- DVD review by porfle