THE SACKETTS -- Movie Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 11/26/09
 

 

There were other made-for-TV Westerns before it, but THE SACKETTS (1979) is the first big multi-part cowboy epic that I can think of. It came out a full ten years before the LONESOME DOVE series and, though it isn't nearly as good, it does lay the groundwork for this type of sweeping TV Western.

The story follows the adventures of the three Sackett brothers, Tell, Orrin, and Tyrell. Tell (Sam Elliott) is the loner of the bunch, and we're introduced to him as he is forced to flee his mining job after gunning down a crooked card dealer (James Gammon) who happens to be one of the dreaded Bigelow brothers.

Knowing that the other Bigelows will be after him for revenge, Tell disappears into the mountains, where he stumbles onto a rich vein of gold and starts his own one-man mining operation. When he totes a large bagful of the shiny stuff into the aptly-named town of Purgatorie to trade for cash, it doesn't take long for some of the less scrupulous denizens to try and surgically remove him from his new-found riches.

Meanwhile, his brothers Orrin (Tom Selleck) and Tyrell (Jeff Osterhage) have left their Tennessee homeplace to avoid a bloody feud between the Sacketts and another clan, and are headed West with a cattle drive. When they reach Abilene, Orrin falls for the golden-haired daughter of an ambitious politician named Pritts (John Vernon), who aims to drive all the Mexicans out of Sante Fe.

Tyrell, of course, falls in love with a lovely Mexican lass (Ana Alicia) whose father, Don Luis (Gilbert Roland), is the main stumbling block in Pritts' plans. When they all get together in Santa Fe, the situation soon turns deadly and guns start a-blazin'.

The script is a combination of two Louis L'Amour novels, "Sackett" and "The Daybreakers", and it isn't a very smooth blend, crosscutting between the two barely-related stories the way you might switch channels back-and-forth between two movies that are on at the same time.

The stories overlap only twice--once near the end of the first segment when the three Sacketts run into each other in Purgatorie, and again for the big finale as the Bigelow brothers finally catch up to Tell and he's reunited with Orrin and Tyrell to fight them off.

This awkward overlapping of the two stories bothered me the first time I watched THE SACKETTS, along with some jarring hand-held camerawork (no Steadicam here), an endlessly irritating and inept musical score by Jerrold Immel, and a strange performance by Mercedes McCambridge that makes Ma Sackett look like she's either perpetually tipsy or tetched in the head.

But further viewings have helped me to get over the various minus points and begin to appreciate all the good things about this movie. Despite its somewhat rough-hewn quality, THE SACKETTS is an engaging Western with lots of authentic atmosphere, good characters, and a terrific cast.

For starters, there's Sam Elliott and Tom Selleck, who I think are the two best Western actors of the past twenty or thirty years (with the exception of Clint Eastwood, of course), and Jeff Osterhage, a lesser-known actor who does a fine job here. Glenn Ford plays Tom Sunday, the ramrod of the cattle drive who later joins Orrin and Tyrell in their own cattle venture and eventually ends up as their enemy, and his intense, masterful performance (watch his face twitch in those close-ups!) is a joy to behold.

This can also be said for the great Ben Johnson as Cap Roundtree, who becomes Tell's gold-mining partner. Paul Koslo is a hoot as the blowhard would-be gunslinger Kid Newton. The Bigelow brothers are played by Jack Elam, Slim Pickens, Gene Evans, and James Gammon, and also appearing in the cast are the likes of L.Q. Jones, Ruth Roman, Pat Buttram, Shug Fisher, and Buck Taylor, in addition to the aforementioned John Vernon and Gilbert Roland. (Louis L'Amour himself does the opening narration.) If you're like me and you love great character actors as much as A-list stars, this is the kind of "all-star" cast that will put a smile on your face.

I can't give THE SACKETTS a super high score due to its various deficiencies, and the fact that it's not the polished effort that later TV Westerns like LONESOME DOVE would be, but it has enough going for it to get a solid three-and-a-half out of five spurs. The final shoot-out alone is worth waiting for--it's almost as much fun as the bullet-riddled free-for-all that ended OPEN RANGE. And that cast--awesome. There's one scene which features Sam Elliott, Tom Selleck, Glenn Ford, and Ben Johnson sitting around a campfire, and I thought "Damn...I wish I was sitting around that campfire, too."

 

THE SACKETTS -- Movie Review by Porfle

BONANZA: THE OFFICIAL FIRST SEASON, VOL. 1 & 2 -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 9/3/09

 

One of my top five favorite TV westerns of all time, "Bonanza" certainly needs no introduction even for those who have never watched a single episode. If you fall into that category, then the release of BONANZA: THE OFFICIAL FIRST SEASON, VOLUMES 1 & 2 is the perfect introduction to the wild and wooly world of The Cartwrights--Ben, Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe--as they lord it over the rest of the world from the lofty majesty of their massive forest-bedecked Nevada ranch, the Ponderosa. And if you're already a fan, then you'll want to slap your brand on these little dogies before sundown.

Ben Cartwright, played by silver-haired, dulcet-voiced Canadian actor Lorne Greene, is one of those TV characters to whom marriage is the kiss of death for his hapless brides. As we join the Cartwright clan, Ben's already gone through three wives and sired a son by each. Soulful, taciturn Adam (Pernell Roberts), whose mother was a member of New England aristocracy, is the "cool" one who lets his gun do the talking while casting dark, sultry glances at any beauteous ladies within glancing distance.

Hoss (Dan Blocker), the gentle giant who's slow to anger but quick to finish off an entire hog before anyone else has even made it to the table, comes from sturdy Swedish stock. The youngest Cartwright is impetuous, girl-crazy action boy Little Joe (Michael Landon), a New Orleans-born hellion who's always leaping into trouble. Even their Chinese cook Hop Sing (Victor Sen Yung) is pee-oh'd.

These guys live in the coolest ranchhouse ever (which Adam designed and built) on the biggest spread in the northern hemisphere, and in these early episodes they're bitterly at odds with the devious Virginia City silver tycoons who covet their vast tracts of forest land with which to shore up their mine tunnels. In later seasons, Ben and his brood chill out considerably and become friendly, socializing members of the community who prefer reasoned diplomacy to gunplay. But when we first see them, they're coarse, boisterous wild men bristling with guns and running roughshod over the countryside. Just try cutting across the Ponderosa to get to where you're going a little faster--before you know it, you'll be staring down the barrels of four guns while the Cartwrights terrorize you like Hell's Angels on horseback.

In the VOLUME 1 pilot episode, "A Rose for Lotta" (9/12/1959), this very thing happens to none other than guest star Yvonne DeCarlo (Lily from "The Munsters"), a leggy actress who's been hired by those silver tycoons (including George MacCready and Willis Bouchey) to lure one of the Cartwrights into town so that he can be held hostage. The very sight of her speeding carriage throwing up Ponderosa dust in the distance sets our heroes' blood boiling and their bloodlust blazing, and they give chase with guns waving.

After roughing up her mousey driver (Ned Glass), tying him up, and tossing him in the back of Hop Sing's buckboard, Ben graciously instructs a willing Little Joe to escort the lady into town. The young Cartwright is set upon by ruffians but escapes, gleefully managing to create fiery havoc in the Chinese part of town. Meanwhile, Ben, Adam, and Hoss confront their wealthy foes in a local saloon, where Adam has a cool, melodramatic shootout with black-garbed gun-for-hire Langford Pool (a creepy Christopher Dark) complete with closeups of their twitchy eyes and sweating foreheads.

Even at home, these guys are off the hook. The episode begins with Adam and Little Joe talking trash about each other's moms, with Adam referring to Little Joe's dueling epee as "that New Orleans monkey pick you got handed down to you by your French Quarter mother", to which Joe responds with murder in his eyes, "I've never been able to see myself being kin to anything whelped out of a thin-nosed, blueblooded Boston yankee!"

A bareknuckled debate on the subject ensues right there in the livingroom (with Landon and Roberts doing most of their own stunts) before Hoss breaks it up by beating them both senseless with a few swipes of his ham fists. When Ben arrives on the scene with a blustery "Fire and brimstone!" we find that Lorne Greene's early interpretation of his character is decidedly larger-than-life. Roaring and bellowing with manic laughter at his sons' antics as though he's playing to the back row, Greene really pours it on here and sells this pilot with all he's got. To those used to the more sedate later episodes of the show, it's a pretty amazing sequence.

Before long, though, the Cartwrights begin to settle down and interact with their environment on a less hostile basis. (After all, it's hard to come up with interesting stories if you throw all of the guest stars off your land at gunpoint.) As Ben tells Adam: "Son, we can't ignore the rest of the world. We're the only stabilizing influence in the country." So he and the boys start using their influence to develop the town, help the poor, settle mining disputes, and try to keep the Indians and the settlers from killing each other.

The latter is forcefully depicted in "The Paiute War", in which a peaceful tribe is wrongfully blamed for some killings and the army is called in, resulting in a needless slaughter which horrifies the cavalry officer in charge. Definitely not your usual Cowboys vs. Indians stuff. Inadequate safety measures in a silver mine are a concern in "The Philip Diedesheimer Story", which sees Adam trapped in a cave-in while the mine's heartless owner (R.G. Armstrong) is more concerned with the bottom line than the lives of his workers.

The Cartwright curse rears its head again (and not for the last time) in "The Newcomers" when Hoss falls in love with a beautiful woman (Inger Stevens) who turns out to be dying of an incurable disease. In "Enter Mark Twain" the Cartwrights meet the soon-to-be-famous writer (Howard Duff), whose inflammatory political articles in the local newspaper spark a blazing gun battle in the streets of Virginia City. The scene in which the Cartwrights disarm a gunman and deliver him to the office of the crooked politician who hired him is cool as hell--they file imperiously out of the room like they own the place as Hoss empties the man's gun and flings it onto a desk without even looking.

Aside from the occasional comedy episode, these stories are thoughtful morality plays that mix hardbitten Western action with intense human drama. "The Truckee Strip" (which marks the first appearance of Joseph Messerli's famous end-credits watercolor paintings) is a Romeo-and-Juliet tale in which Little Joe falls in love with the daughter (Adrienne Hayes) of a rancher with whom Ben has had a long, bitter feud over a patch of land. Little Joe's growing disgust with the endless fighting and collateral damage leads him to pull a gun on his father at one point, which in turn prompts Ben to question his own unwavering convictions. Here, as well as in many subsequent episodes, it's interesting to see these characters grow and develop beyond their original one-dimensional qualities.

The show is consistently well-written and directed, with some early scripts by future "Star Trek" story editor Gene L. Coon and Christian Nyby (THE THING) directing several of them. The first television Western filmed in color, it's visually sumptuous and makes good use of sweeping outdoor locations. The sets and costumes have an authentic feel even though there's a storybook quality to them as well. Each episode is enhanced by a robust score by the prolific David Rose.



The first episode of VOLUME 2, "The Outcast", guest-starring a young Jack Lord and Susan Oliver, begins the tradition of announcing each episode's title with a musical fanfare. This set also continues the show's attention to racial issues with "The Fear Merchants", expanding Hop Sing's character beyond the usual stereotype as he and his people are menaced by violent bigotry in Virginia City. When a man (Frank Ferguson) accidentally shoots his daughter during an argument, a Chinese boy is accused of the deed and the Cartwrights are deputized to protect him from a lynch mob stirred up by a hatemongering mayoral candidate (Gene Evans).

This bunch contains some of my favorite episodes from the public domain DVDs I've bought over the years, only now in near-pristine condition. "Blood on the Land" features Everett Sloan as a ruthless old sheep farmer who stakes a claim on Ponderosa land and is willing to go to war with the Cartwrights to keep it. One of my favorites,"Desert Justice", boasts a great performance by Claude Akins as a hardcore U.S. Marshall bent on bringing one of the Cartwrights' ranch hands in for murder, even if it means killing anyone who gets in his way.

"The Stranger" marks the Cartwrights' growing acceptance by the citizens of Virginia City, as Ben is proposed as the new governor of the state of Nevada until a lawman from New Orleans (Lloyd Nolan) shows up with a warrant for his arrest on a murder charge. An especially exciting episode, "San Francisco Holiday", finds the Cartwrights and Hop Sing in the titular city where some of their ranch hands are shanghaied. Ed Wood regular Tor Johnson guest stars.

One of the series' best comedy episodes is "The Gunmen", in which Hoss and Little Joe (who are so much fun together that they'll be teamed many times) are mistaken for lookalike outlaws, the notorious Slade brothers, and must convince the terrified denizens of a small Texas town that they've got the wrong guys. The opening scene in which Landon and Blocker, as the Slades, gun down an entire saloon full of men in cold blood, is pretty startling.

The impressive roster of guest stars in volume one includes Ida Lupino, James Coburn, Ruth Roman, Barry Sullivan, R.G. Armstrong, Harry Carey Jr., John Beal, Mala Powers, Buddy Ebsen, Fay Spain, Alan Hale Jr., Anthony Caruso, Michael Forest, Jack Warden, Jane Greer, Alexander Scourby, Don Megowan, Hal Smith, Whitney Blake, Arthur Hunnicutt, Bill Quinn, Mort Mills, Barbara Luna, Raymond Bailey, Jose Gonzales-Gonzales, and Ralph Moody. Peter Coe of HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and THE MUMMY'S CURSE makes a surprising appearance as an Indian.

Volume two's more familiar faces include Vic Morrow, Gene Evans, Christopher Dark (as yet another sleazy hired gun), Patricia Medina, Joan Staley, Sebastian Cabot, Hazel Court, Bert Freed, Ellen Corby, John Anderson, Philip Ahn, Frank Ferguson, Helen Westcott, Cameron Mitchell, Henry Hull, Paul Picerni, Stafford Repp, Gloria Talbott, Grant Williams, Richard Devon, Nestor Paiva, Kathleen Crowley, James Hong, Richard Deacon, Merry Anders, Don Dubbins, Rhys Williams, Gregory Walcott, and Morgan Woodward.

Both volumes are in original 4.3 full-screen with English mono sound. Each set contains four discs with four episodes per disc. Volume one bonus features include extensive photo galleries for most episodes, some episodic promos, original NBC logo, bumpers, and RCA spots for the pilot, Joe Messerli's original sketches for the closing credits paintings, and creator-producer David Dortort's 2002 personal recollections of Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, and the creation of that iconic flaming Ponderosa map through which the stars ride in the opening titles. There's also a wonderfully cornball half-hour 1953 "Fireside Theater" segment with Bruce Bennett called "Man of the Comstock", written by Dortort, which was sort of a forerunner to "Bonanza." Lastly, we get to see a bizarre alternate ending to the pilot in which the Cartwrights ride off singing the "Bonanza" theme song! (And not too well, either.)

Volume two contains more photo galleries and episodic promos, original NBC logo, bumpers, and RCA spots for "The Avenger", and David Dortort's reminiscences about Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Victor Sen Yung, and how the Ponderosa got its name.

BONANZA: THE OFFICIAL FIRST SEASON, VOLUMES 1 & 2 are available seperately or together. For fans of the classic television Western, this rock-solid, robust series is great entertainment and is rightfully remembered as one of the finest shows of all time.

BONANZA: THE OFFICIAL FIRST SEASON, VOL. 1 & 2 -- DVD Review by Porfle

Did Disney's "THAT DARN CAT!" Inspire Tarantino's "FROM DUSK TILL DAWN"? (video)

 

Quentin Tarantino's script for "From Dusk Till Dawn" (1996)...

...features two bank robbers and their frightened hostage, a female teller.

So does Walt Disney's 1965 comedy, "That Darn Cat!"

One particular scene from the Disney film clearly inspired Tarantino...

...and both are equally unsettling. 

 

(Originally posted on 1/14/21)

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

Did Disney's "THAT DARN CAT!" Inspire Tarantino's "FROM DUSK TILL DAWN"? (video)

Was This Scene In "Inglourious Basterds" Inspired By "The Culpepper Cattle Company"? (video)

 

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

 

 

Was This Scene In "Inglourious Basterds" Inspired By "The Culpepper Cattle Company"? (video)

HELL RIDE -- Movie Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 9/27/13

 

Is the phrase "Quentin Tarantino Presents" before a film's title a reliable sign of quality?  After watching HELL RIDE (2008), my answer to that question would be, in a word, no.  And in two words, hell no.  If this is any indication, then Tarantino might as well start calling people into the bathroom after he takes a dump so that he can proudly "present" the results to them.

What little storyline there is often gets lost in the seemingly random editing, or is put on hold every time some mangy old biker dudes get their hands on the non-stop parade of salacious silicone babes who seem to infest this flick like tribbles.  What it all boils down to is that way back in 1976, some rival bad-guy bikers called the Six Six Sixers murdered good-guy biker Pistolero's girlfriend, and now, thirty some-odd years later, Pistolero (writer-director Larry Bishop), with the help of fellow gang members the Victors, decides to get revenge. 

I've read that Bishop used to be a biker himself and has firsthand experience with the lifestyle, which seems to add zero validity to this particular project.  Basically what you've got here is a bunch of middle-aged actors who have been roped into a turkey and they know it, so they're just goofing their way through it.  Michael Madsen, who has been known to sleepwalk through films he doesn't take seriously, invests about as much effort in the role of Pistolero's devil-may-care cohort "The Gent" (he wears a tuxedo jacket instead of a leather jacket for some damn reason) as he would if his neighbor pointed a home video camera at him. 

David Carradine, as rival gang leader "The Deuce", is there simply to lend whatever coolness factor he can to his few scenes, while Dennis Hopper comes off as nothing more than a silly old fart.  Even Vinnie Jones as evil, oral-sex-obsessed rival biker "Billy Wings" seems embarrassed here, which may be the film's most noteworthy accomplishment. 

As for young Eric Balfour as the mysterious newcomer Cheyenne, he seems to take the whole thing about as seriously as Bishop, meaning that he's just as arch and stiff a presence.  Nobody,  however, can match Larry Bishop's hernia-inducing attempts to be a badass--at times, he treats the simple act of standing in one spot with such sinew-stretching intensity that we fear he may implode.

The movie is filled with flashbacks, flash forwards, changes in style, changes in film stock, switches from color to black-and-white and back, zoom-ins, zoom-outs, focus fiddling, and most other types of cinematic frou-frou you can think of, but there's no rhyme or reason to any of it.  Bishop's clearly trying to be arty in several sequences, but his visuals look sloppy instead.  And when his character goes out into the desert and takes peyote in one scene, this gives the director an excuse to indulge in the usual meandering drug-trip nonsense with its skin-deep philosophizing.

There are homages to Tarantino's homages, such as a mysterious box whose contents we never get to see, and a POV shot looking up from inside the box that's a miniature version of the way Tarantino shoots people opening car trunks.  There's the jukebox soundtrack, featuring several truly ear-curdling songs.  And of course, there's the dialogue.  HELL RIDE contains stretches of dialogue that might make you wish Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega had never discussed foot massages or mentioned the words "Royale with cheese." 

At one point Pistolero and his aptly-named girlfriend Nada (sexy Leonor Varela) get into a pun war that includes every possible variation of the word "fire"--she's got a fire that needs putting out, he's got the firehose, she's a fire alarm, he's a fire-eater, etc.  It's a wonder they didn't manage to work "fire ants" into it somewhere.  Later, Bishop starts doing the same thing with the word "business", and you start wishing you could just grab a gun and shoot at the screen like Elvis used to do.

The impression I get from this movie's publicity is that if you liked GRINDHOUSE, you should love HELL RIDE.  But as far as I'm concerned, whatever you may have liked about one is sadly lacking in the other.  Getting the "right" actors together and having them be super tough and spout loopy dialogue at each other doesn't make a good movie if there isn't a decent story and a solid directorial vision.  HELL RIDE's problem is that it thinks it's a cool-as-hell movie to begin with, but doesn't have what it takes to actually be one.

HELL RIDE -- Movie Review by Porfle

13 -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 10/28/11

 

In THE DEER HUNTER, a game of Russian Roulette proved so overwhelmingly intense that, as I sat watching it in the theater, I wasn't even sure if I'd be able to get through it.  Géla Babluani's 13 (2010) gives us an entire movie based on the game but manages only to be moderately entertaining without coming anywhere near that level of tension.

Sam Riley is Vince, an average young guy whose family--mom, dad, and two sisters--has hit rock bottom financially after the father is badly injured.  Stumbling across an illicit Russian Roulette tournament involving some very high-stakes betting, Vince manages to take the place of one of the entrants in hopes of surviving to solve his family' money problems.  Needless to say, this descent down the rabbit hole will be a nightmare with the spectre of sudden, violent death hovering over him every minute.

Riley gives a restrained but effective performance and makes his character easy to root for.  Vince is believably freaked out during the first round while quickly getting more hardened to the game out of necessity.  When he makes it to the final round, which we know he will since the opening flash-forward gives it away, he's still reluctant but his initial hesitance has been overcome by sheer desperation.



Technically, 13 is as good as it needs to be but no more, relying on the inherent fascination we derive from seeing a group of men standing in a circle, each with his gun pointed at the head of the man in front of him and then firing on command, with some surviving and others thudding clumsily to the floor.  With each round the stakes rise along with the number of bullets in each gun.

Even so, we never really get that caught up in the game itself, and it's the sketchily-drawn characters who provide the most interest.  As Jasper, Jason Statham is likable as usual even playing a rat who plucks his brother Ronald Lynn (Ray Winstone) out of a mental hospital to compete in the game.  Winstone is an imposing figure, even more so when Ronnie's meds start wearing off and he becomes increasingly hostile both to Vince and to Jasper for using him. 

Mickey Rourke is interesting to watch even when he's coasting through a role as he does here, playing a convict named Jefferson who's been whisked out of a Mexican prison and into the competition against his will.  Rapper 50 Cent plays Jefferson's handler, Jimmy.  Belgian actor Ronald Guttman, whom I recognized as one of the Russian defectors in THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, is Vince's sponsor in the game, and David Zayas of "Dexter" is a police detective trying to put an end to it. 

Film and TV veteran Ben Gazzara is a welcome presence as Schlondorff, sponsor to his own nerve-frazzled entrant.  In the small role of Vince's handler, Jack, Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård manages to convey an unspoken sympathy for Vince that makes his character more tolerable.  Michael Shannon (airplane mechanic "Gooz" in PEARL HARBOR) plays the role of coldblooded game ringmaster Henry with particular relish, harshly barking out commands such as "Spin the cylinder!" and "Cock the hammer!"  Gaby Hoffman, who was little "Maisy" in UNCLE BUCK, is all grown up now and plays Vince's sister Clara in a brief role.



Ray Winstone's menacing character becomes the focal point in the game's final stages and gives 13 its most gripping scenes.  After the game, however, the film wanders down a pretty predictable path and finally comes to a stop after failing to find anything interesting to do with itself save for a mild attempt at some kind of irony.  Director Babluani and his co-scripter Gregory Pruss really needed to throw a few more ideas around before settling for this acutely unremarkable ending.

The DVD from Anchor Bay is in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound and subtitles in English and Spanish.  There are no extras.

In other hands, 13 might've been a really riveting nailbiter.  As it is, it's a nifty little suspense yarn that doesn't quite make you feel like you've gotten your money's worth when it's over.

13 -- DVD Review by Porfle

CATCH .44 -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 12/9/11

 

Ever since PULP FICTION came out, various talky, quirky crime flicks have been described as Tarantino rip-offs.  Or, more generously put, "Tarantino-esque."  Despite all the bad things I've heard about it, I feel generous toward the talky, quirky--and fairly entertaining--crime flick CATCH .44 (2011) so I'll use the latter term.  Besides, people were making movies sorta like this before QT came along, but there just wasn't as convenient a way of describing them.

Not surprisingly, the movie takes the timeline of its not-all-that-complicated story and reshuffles it all over the place just for fun.  Most of the action occurs in an out-of-the-way Louisiana diner at 3:00 a.m., where three girls--Tes (Malik Akerman, WATCHMEN), Dawn (Deborah Ann Woll), and Kara (Nikki Reed, CHAIN LETTER, TWILIGHT)--are on an assignment for local drug kingpin Mel (Bruce Willis) and waiting for something to happen.  When it does, people start getting blown away, including one of the girls. 



We'll keep returning to the diner, with intermittent flashbacks bringing us up to speed a little at a time (a la RESERVOIR DOGS), until everything and everyone comes together at the end.  Meanwhile, we rewind to the dead girl and her two cohorts getting stopped by this really weird highway cop.  Only he isn't really a cop, because we just saw him shoot the real cop in the head during a routine pull-over.  Ronny (Forest Whitaker in another interesting performance) is a scary and enigmatic guy whose intentions are as yet unknown, but we're pretty sure he's going to end up at that diner, too.

Writer-director Aaron Harvey manages to keep things zipping along even when he's imitating Tarantino's chatty dialogue style with long, talky scenes that have their own modest rewards while never quite bagging the elusive Royale With Cheese.  A three-way Mexican standoff inside the diner (also a la RESERVOIR DOGS) after the initial shootout is nicely handled, prolonging the tension with various revelations and teasing us as to what certain characters' motivations are.  Whitaker is especially good here, with Shea Whigham doing a nice turn as a twitchy fry cook with a pump shotgun.  (Lovable oddball Brad Dourif also shows up for a couple of scenes as, of all things, a cop.)

Harvey's directorial style is a pleasing amalgam of lesser you-know-who mixed with a little Robert Rodriguez, making CATCH .44 easy to look at.  It amazed me to discover that Harvey's only other directing credit is the absolutely wretched 2007 slasher flick THE EVIL WOODS, which is without question one of the worst pieces of dreck ever made.  The difference between the two films is stunning--if nothing else, Harvey deserves some kind of an award for "most improved filmmaker."



Lurking in the background, getting talked about a lot, and popping into view for a few key scenes is Bruce Willis' "Mel" character.  The PULP FICTION co-star lends his formidable presence to the film without really breaking a sweat, but by now just being Bruce Willis is enough to elevate a small film such as this to another level.  We see him being a rich, cool drug lord manipulating his unsuspecting employees (such as Tes, Dawn, and Kara) like pawns, and finally emerging for a long, talky final scene with Whitaker that manages a faint hint of the Bill and Beatrix exchange at the end of KILL BILL VOL. 2.  Barely a whiff of that Royale With Cheese, though. 

The DVD from Anchor Bay is in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound.  Subtitles are in English and Spanish.  A long, talky commentary track with Harvey and editor Richard Byard is the sole extra.

CATCH .44 doles out tantalizing scraps of story to us until the pieces fall into place, and once that's done, the final scene plays out in a way that resolves all the pent-up suspense in rather predictable ways.  There's no ironic twist or "gotcha" to fully justify so much story fiddling, and we realize that it was all done just to tell a very simple tale in a more interesting way.  Which is okay, since it does.  

CATCH .44 -- DVD Review by Porfle

Four Werewolves In One Episode Of... "THE RIFLEMAN"! (video)

 

The episode entitled "The Mind Reader" (S1 E40, 1959)...

...has three guest stars who had appeared or would appear as werewolves.

Michael Landon played the lupine lead in "I Was A Teenage Werewolf" (1957).

Steven Ritch was the title terror in the previous year's "The Werewolf" (1956).

And John Carradine would howl it up in the 1981 Joe Dante classic "The Howling."

This episode is a real werewolf triple-header!

Oh, and the fourth werewolf?

Chuck Connors himself, who co-starred in Fox TV's "Werewolf" (1987)!


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

Four Werewolves In One Episode Of... "THE RIFLEMAN"! (video)

THE KILLING JAR -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 2/19/11

 

Stay away from out-of-the-way diners after dark, THE KILLING JAR (2010) seems to be telling us, since you never know what kind of desperate character may come walking in.  And if he looks like Michael Madsen, you know you should've skipped the pecan pie and skedaddled five minutes ago.

This tense thriller by writer-director Mark Young (SOUTHERN GOTHIC) is one of those single-location movies that could easily be performed as a stage play, which means that the focus is on character and dialogue.  Neither are very deep here, but they get the job done pretty well, mainly due to a capable cast. 

Amber Benson (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER) plays weary waitress Noreen, who dreams of getting out of Silver Lake (where the tourists don't go anymore since the lake dried up) but works in a dingy diner for ill-tempered cook Jimmy (Danny "MACHETE" Trejo).  It's almost closing time on a hot night when news comes over the radio of four grisly murders not far away, with the ill-fated family's killer still at large. 

A likely suspect enters as Noreen is chatting with a mild-mannered traveling salesman named John Dixon (Harold Perrineau, "Link" of MATRIX: RELOADED and REVOLUTIONS) on his way through town.  The stranger is foulmouthed and surly, prompting local deputy Lonnie (Lew Temple, THE DEVIL'S REJECTS) to start Barney Fife-ing him.  This proves to be a bad move, and before long "Doe" is threatening his seven terrified captives with a pump shotgun and getting crazier by the minute.



Michael Madsen does a lot of glorified cameo roles these days, so it's good to see him sink his teeth into a part that's not all that different from the kill-crazy Mr. Blonde of RESERVOIR DOGS, only without the mordant sense of humor.  His "Doe" is scary dangerous in a wary, calculated way and when he goes off and gets violent, the character is coldblooded and unpredictable. 

Young, whose direction is efficient without drawing attention to itself, throws a few curves at us to keep the story moving.  These include the arrival of Mr. Greene (Jake Busey), a shady businessman who's there to meet a Mr. Smith, whom he's never seen before.  Is it Doe, or is Mr. Smith someone else in the diner?  It might even be trucker Hank (the always-fine Kevin Gage of HEAT and LAID TO REST). 

Young builds a fair amount of suspense as Doe singles out his captives one at a time to terrorize and interrogate them, and people do get killed badly.  Still, much of the drama is psychological, so don't expect a gorefest--aside from a couple of grisly shots here and there, you'll have to use your DVD players' frame-advance to see an exploding head or two.  While none of this is unbearably nailbiting and the major plot twists are fairly predictable, the finale is nicely played and ends the movie on a satisfying note.



The DVD from Image Entertainment is in 1.78:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.  A trailer is the sole extra.

THE KILLING JAR probably won't sear itself into your movie memory banks or have you swooning in cinematic ecstasy, but it's a solid little suspense thriller with some good performances and an absorbing story.  Best of all, it's a chance to see an aging Mr. Blonde at the end of his rope, going mental and getting trigger-happy one last time.  

THE KILLING JAR -- DVD Review by Porfle

STREETS OF BLOOD -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 6/30/09

 

"Are we even cops anymore?"
"We're past that, brother."

Val Kilmer's character, Det. Andy Devereaux, is referring to the fact that he and his fellow cops in STREETS OF BLOOD (2009) have ventured far beyond the bounds of acceptable police procedure in their quest to stem the rising tide of drug-related crime in the hurricane-ravaged Big Easy. 

 But seeing that Kilmer, Sharon Stone, and Michael Biehn are appearing in this tacky, low-grade potboiler, the question he's answering might as well have been "Are we even movie stars anymore?"

Somehow, though, once I got past the possibility that this was going to be a classy, top-notch movie and lowered my expectations accordingly, I actually started to enjoy it. It's fast-moving, action-packed, and rather colorful in its depiction of the dark underbelly of New Orleans, with plenty of sleazy sex and violence to give it that neo-grindhouse appeal. Big names aside, it's not all that different from the cheap, direct-to-video action flicks I used to rent from hole-in-the-wall video stores back in the 80s.

Val Kilmer is an actor I like in just about anything, so I cut him some slack here even though he isn't all that successful at making me think he's from anywhere near Louisiana. As Andy Devereaux, a hardboiled narc trying to live up to his hero-cop father's legacy, he's a true blue cop even though he'll bend the hell out of the rules to make a bust.  

Curtis "Fifty Cent" Jackson plays his partner, Stan, a family man having trouble making ends meet and feeling the temptation to pocket some of the stacks of drug money they come across. Jackson seems more comfortable playing gangstas than cops, but he does a pretty good job here even though he could still use a few more acting lessons.

Andy and Stan often butt heads with Pepe (Jose Pablo Cantillo) and Barney (Brian Presley), two really out-of-control cops who like to kill bad guys, take their cash, do their drugs, and screw their girlfriends. But the two disparate duos find themselves working together when FBI agent Brown (Michael Biehn) launches an investigation that threatens to bring them all down just as they're starting to close in on the biggest drug gang in the city, the Latin Kings, run by a stone cold killer named Chamorro (Luis Rolon).

While all this is going on, a police psychologist named Nina (Sharon Stone) is conducting interviews with the main cops in order to find out why they have such a penchant for extreme violence, including Andy's four lethal shootings in three years ("I'm a good shot," he tells her). Stone comes off like a cross between Daisy Duke on 'ludes and a slow-drawlin' Mae West, with one of the worst southern accents in film history--I live about sixty miles from where this was filmed, and I don't think I've ever met anyone who talks like her. What, did she base her entire performance on a "Deputy Dawg" cartoon she saw when she was a kid? Anyway, she's just plain awful here, but it's kinda funny so that might actually be a plus.

The action scenes are somewhat artlessly staged, the photography looks like the cameramen were hopping around barefoot on a hot sidewalk, and the editing is less than exquisite. Those minor quibbles aside, however, the movie still manages to be exciting and fun to watch. Some scenes even generate a certain raw power, such as Kilmer's blow-up during an interrogation scene with Biehn and a trigger-happy exchange between Pepe and Barney and a pimpin' lowlife named Ray Delacroix (Davi Jay) who turns out to be working with the DEA. Several of the snappy dialogue scenes crackle with tension. Jose Pablo Cantillo is a standout as Pepe, and Biehn, as usual, turns in a solid performance. The post-Katrina flood sequence is atmospheric, while good use is made of locations in and around the city of Shreveport.

The DVD from Anchor Bay is bonus-less except for the film's trailer and English subtitles for the hard-of-hearing. The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen image and Dolby Surround 5.1 are good.

Technically, STREETS OF BLOOD is a pretty slapdash affair, but that didn't keep me from enjoying it. I even watched it again and liked it better the second time because I knew what to expect and what not to expect. Even when the surprise ending was entirely unbelievable, I just accepted it as part of the film's cheapo charm. And when it was over, I almost felt like I needed to rewind the tape, pop it out of the VCR, and get it back to the mom-and-pop video store where I rented it in time to avoid a late fee. After dubbing a copy, of course.

STREETS OF BLOOD -- DVD Review by Porfle

How "Tombstone" Should Have Ended (video)

 

"Tombstone" is pretty much the perfect Western...right?

Well, maybe and maybe not. Because after much extensive research and development... 

...we have come up with a way to actually improve the ending of this classic. 

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

How "Tombstone" Should Have Ended (video)

All The Giant Lobster Scenes From "PANTHER GIRL OF THE KONGO" (1955) (video)

"Panther Girl of the Kongo" is a 12-chapter serial from Republic Pictures.

Phyllis Coates plays Jean the Panther Girl, an anthropologist in Africa.
Her work is interrupted by the sudden appearance of giant lobster monsters.

The "claw monsters" are created from ordinary crawfish by a crooked scientist...
...who wants to chase the local natives away from his illegal diamond mine.

Jean summons her adventurer friend Larry Sanders (Myron Healy) to help fight the monsters.

The special effects were created by Howard and Theodore Lydecker.

"Panther Girl of the Kongo" was the next-to-last serial produced by Republic.
It used extensive stock footage from their 1941 serial "Jungle Girl."

A 100-minute edit was released to television with the title "The Claw Monsters."

Read our review of the "PANTHER GIRL OF THE KONGO" serial HERE


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

All The Giant Lobster Scenes From "PANTHER GIRL OF THE KONGO" (1955) (video)

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

FEEL THE NOISE -- Movie Review by Porfle

 (NOTE: This review originally appeared online at Bumscorner.com in 2007.)

Rob Vega (Omarion Grandberry, YOU GOT SERVED) is a Harlem teen who dreams of being a big-time rapper. After financing his entry into a rap contest by stealing some rims off a local gangster who then tries to shoot him while he's onstage, his mom (Kellita Smith, THREE CAN PLAY THAT GAME, ROLL BOUNCE) ships him off to Puerto Rico to stay with the father he's never met until things cool off.

All of this occurs during the opening credits of FEEL THE NOISE (2007), which then becomes the story of how Rob meets his father, Roberto (Giancarlo Esposito), his stepmother Marivi (Rosa Arredondo), and his stepbrother Javi (Victor Rasuk), and how Rob and Javi combine their musical talents to create a hybrid of hiphop and Reggaeton (a combination of reggae and Latino rhythms) to produce a demo they hope will take them places.

Along the way Rob hooks up with a beautiful dance teacher named C.C. (Zulay Henao), who has her own artistic aspirations. When a sleazy record producer in a white leisure suit (James McCaffrey) comes on to C.C. with a request for "private" dance lessons, she introduces him to the guys and before long they're all on their way back to New York with the lure of a recording contract.

But not only do Mr. Record Producer's promises prove shaky at best, but Rob has to deal with the fact that there's still a P.O.'d gangster running around who wants to give him a one-gun salute.

The direction and cinematography by Alejandro Chomski and Zoran Popovic are as good as they need to be in a film that isn't trying to dazzle us with fancy imagery or camera moves, even in the strobe-lit club settings where another director might be tempted to show off.

Some nice Puerto Rican locations are an asset, as is footage shot during the Puerto Rican Day celebration in New York (in which co-producer Jennifer Lopez makes a fleeting parade appearance).

The songs are good but not particularly memorable, the best being the catchy centerpiece tune "Coqui" which was co-written by Wyclef Jean and features Reggaeton star Julio 'Voltio' Ramos, who plays himself in the film.

As for former B2K member Omarion, he isn't a great actor but he wisely underplays his part and comes off okay. Giancarlo Esposito (DO THE RIGHT THING and "Homicide: Life on the Street") as Rob's estranged father brings a quiet dignity to the role, while Rosa Arredondo, who recently played a small part in the brutal action flick ROCKAWAY, does a good job as Rob's caring stepmother.

Victor Rasuk and Zulay Henao as Javi and C.C. round out the ensemble with likable performances. And then, of course, there's Kellita Smith, who is one of the top contenders for my "MILF of the Year" Award for 2008. Thankfully, Albert Leon's script doesn't require any of them to emote their way through a bunch of artificially contrived situations.

Funny that in a movie called FEEL THE NOISE, the quiet moments are the best. The cast makes us care about their characters and the relationships between them. Their interplay is a lot more subtle and realistic than in most modern music movies, which often tend to be loud, flashy, and superficial. Here, the musical sequences serve the story, with no overproduced song-and-dance setpieces to compete for our attention save for a couple of forays into the club scene.

I guess the biggest debit of this movie is that it comes and goes without leaving much of an impression, failing to really follow through on what it's started. Subplots such as Rob helping an important neighborhood figure evade the police or Mimi's crazy ex-boyfriend Nodde (Charles Duckworth) declaring war on Rob and his family don't go anywhere.

Even the "Rocky goes the distance" ending fades out as soon as it has served its purpose to the story, leaving us to finally get to hear Rob and Javi's song in its entirety during the closing credits. While FEEL THE NOISE manages to engage the viewer to a certain extent during its running time, the dramatic and emotional potential of its various elements are never fully realized and the resolution is much too convenient. But it's a pleasant diversion that I enjoyed more than I thought I would.

FEEL THE NOISE -- Movie Review by Porfle

Pickup Truck Blooper in John Wayne Western "THE UNDEFEATED" (1969)

Originally posted on 11/30/17

Pickup trucks were a pretty rare sight back in the 1860s.

But we get a quick glimpse of one off in the distance at the end of the John Wayne western "The Undefeated" (1969). 

Either it's a blooper, or some very ingenious inventor was way ahead of his time!

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

Pickup Truck Blooper in John Wayne Western "THE UNDEFEATED" (1969)

Shatner Vs. Shatner: Duel To The Death ("White Comanche", 1968) (video)

For half-breed twins Johnny Moon and Notah (William Shatner)...

...mortal enemies in a clash of good against evil...

...the time has come for a duel to the death.



Which Shatner will win?


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

Shatner Vs. Shatner: Duel To The Death ("White Comanche", 1968) (video)

A Painful Stunt: "Once Upon A Time In The West" (1968)

There are some movie stunts that you just know had to hurt.

Especially if a stuntman lands wrong!

 

I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Hope you enjoy it!

A Painful Stunt: "Once Upon A Time In The West" (1968)

GANGSTER'S PARADISE: JERUSALEMA -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 9/30/10

 

With Rapulana Seiphemo giving a deftly controlled performance in the lead role of South African crime lord Lucky Kunene, the fact-based GANGSTER'S PARADISE: JERUSALEMA (2008) isn't the sadistically violent crime thriller I was expecting.  Instead of killing his way to success, university dropout Lucky gets there by using his keen business acumen against South Africa's crooked slumlords.

Not to say that the film isn't violent, because everyday life in Lucky's world can be deadly.  We join him and his best friend Zakes as kids under the unsavory influence of their hood-hero Nazareth (Jeffrey Zekele), who teaches them, among other things, how to carjack for a living.  These early scenes--some of which, unlike the rest of the film, are quite funny--reveal Lucky as a sensitive boy who cares for his family and wants to better himself by earning his way through college.  But the lure of easy money is too strong, and before long he and Zakes buy guns and are stealing cars and robbing stores. 

When Nazareth watches Michael Mann's HEAT on television one day, he gets the idea to duplicate that film's armored car robbery in the first overtly violent sequence, with the two shocked boys witnessing senseless death firsthand.  Later, their criminal mentor stages a "smash-and-grab" store robbery that results in a bullet-riddled bloodbath when scores of cops and security guards show up with guns blazing.  As in later action scenes, this shootout isn't designed as a flamboyantly cinematic setpiece like the ones in HEAT or SCARFACE, but is staged in a matter-of-fact style that makes it seem more realistic.

 
Lucky flees Soweto to crime-infested "Jo'burg" as a hunted fugitive, where we rejoin him ten years later driving a cab.  When he's almost killed by rival cabbies whose territory he's encroached on, Lucky decides to use his brains to get ahead.  That's when he hatches a scheme to force local slumlords out of their own buildings along with the drug dealers and hookers infesting them, and start collecting all that rent money himself.  Pretending to side with the tenants, he's hailed as a Robin Hood by the public while the police, led by Detective Swart (Robert Hobbs), make it their business to bring him down in any way necessary.  Lucky also makes an enemy in local drug kingpin Ngu, who turns one of Lucky's inside men against him and sets him up for the kill. 

The narrative style is lean and uncluttered as is the direction by Ralph Ziman (HEARTS AND MINDS, THE ZOOKEEPER), who also scripted.  When death comes, it's messy but quick--Ziman doesn't linger over scenes of sadism for its own sake.  Lucky himself would rather scheme his way out of dicey situations and rarely takes the violent route, trying instead to bend the law to his own uses while flaunting his saintly image in the eyes of his tenants.  Still, his ongoing clash with drug dealer Ngu inevitably leads to all-out warfare with a blazing shootout in a nightclub coming as one of the film's action highlights.
 

Seiphemo is impressive as Lucky Kunene, whom we tend to side with since he lacks the cold-hearted cruelty of the usual screen criminal.  Jeffrey Zekele's Nazareth exudes cool efficiency as a killer who does Lucky's dirty work, whether pushing unwanted tenants through windows when they refuse to leave by the door, or impulsively executing an ousted slumlord and his lawyer for mouthing off to Lucky.  Other performances of note include Ronnie Nyakale as loyal friend Zakes, Robert Hobbs as the dogged Detective Swart, and the lovely Shelley Meskin as Leah, a wealthy white woman who becomes Lucky's lover after he helps her out of a jam. 

The DVD from Anchor Bay is in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound with English subtitles.  Extras include a commentary track with director Ziman, composer Alan Lazar, and actor Jaffa Mamabolo (young Lucky), plus deleted scenes and a trailer. 

While containing much of the same visceral excitement of other crime flicks, GANGSTER'S PARADISE: JERUSALEMA is more interesting as a solid and suspenseful character piece than a lurid bullet ballet--somehow, it manages to avoid being anywhere near as sordid and downbeat as it could've turned out.  But even if you demand your gangster films dripping with gooey GOODFELLAS goodness, you should find plenty to like here.

GANGSTER'S PARADISE: JERUSALEMA -- DVD Review by Porfle

CHARLIE STEEL -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 12/12/18

 

If you've been searching for a bland, ultra-low-budget imitation of '70s blaxploitation flicks that comes off like somebody's student film, the 1984 South African thriller CHARLIE STEEL (Indiepix Films) is the pot of bad-film fun at the end of your rainbow.

Charlie (Sol Rachilo), a poor man's poor man's Shaft, is a private dick who's called into action by a rich friend whose daughter Dudu (Sonto Mazibuko) has just been kidnapped by a gang of bad guys led by the Boss (Thapelo Mofokeng) and is being held for ransom in their secluded hideout. 

As a super-cool action hero, Steel leaves much to be desired, but part of his charm is the way this lanky, hangdog dude in a baggy suit and tiny Fedora, who looks like he's been around the block a few too many times, schleps around town looking for leads before stumbling into trouble and getting himself captured two or three times. 

Meanwhile, as the incompetent bad guys endlessly play poker around the kitchen table and take turns guarding Dudu, we find that one of them, Tony (Charles Joloza), has a crush on her and may turn out to be an ally, while another, Jimmy (Davis Diphoko), is a former military compadre of Charlie's whose seething animosity toward him will ruin the private eye's attempt to infiltrate the gang.

This is one of many low-budget films made in South Africa for black audiences during apartheid, when their access to mainstream films was prohibited, and subsequently rediscovered and restored as part of Indiepix Films' "Retro Afrika" series.  As such, it's a fascinating example of really indy filmmaking that tries to make something entertaining with severely limited resources and manages to succeed in spite of itself. 

In this case, the fun is in watching writer-director Bevis Parsons and his cast of earnest but unpolished actors put together a semi-watchable detective thriller that is endearing in its badness, filling it with tough-guy dialogue, limp action scenes, and a simple, repetitive plot that plays like a feature version of a grade Z serial.

After playing private eye for awhile, Charlie gets serious and goes into military attack mode, trading his rumpled suit for black cat-burglar attire and launching a one-man seige on the bad guys' backwoods HQ. 

Naturally he gets captured again, but that merely sets up the mildly exciting finale in which he and the Boss face off against each other one on one.  Along the way super-suave Charlie even finds time to meet a comely lass and give her his address so that they can meet for dinner the next evening. 

Technically, the film is a bit more competent that some of these apartheid-era films I've seen, but that's not saying a whole lot.  Still, for bad film fans, that's exactly what gives movies like CHARLIE STEEL their irresistible charm, something this one is steeped in.  And with expectations thus adjusted, one almost can't help having a good time watching it.


http://www.indiepixfilms.com
https://retroafrika.com/

Tech Specs
Format: Color, NTSC
Language: English
Subtitles: English
Number of discs: 1
Rated: NR 
Studio: Indiepix Films
3:2, Color, Stereo
DVD Release Date: December 18, 2018
Run Time: 87 minutes
Extras: Trailer

CHARLIE STEEL -- DVD Review by Porfle

BATTLE FOR INCHEON: OPERATION CHROMITE -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 1/5/17

 

It has one of those annoying double titles separated by a colon, as though they couldn't make up their minds, and a cover that more than whispers "direct to DVD junk."  But make no mistake--BATTLE FOR INCHEON: OPERATION CHROMITE (2016) is the real thing: a lavish, impressively-produced Korean War film that begins with a suspenseful espionage mission and ends with a full-scale invasion.

Based on true events, the story concerns a group of South Korean soldiers led by special forces captain Jang Hak-soo (Lee Jung-jae) who pose as a North Korean inspection unit in order to try and locate the placement of mines in Incheon Harbor before the invasion which is to be led by General Douglas MacArthur (Liam Neeson).

Their chief obstacle in this attempt is Commander Lim Gye-jin (Lee Beom-soo), a protege' of supreme leader Kim Il-sung who's in charge of fortifying the harbor against an impending attack.  Not only is Lim Gye-jin tight-lipped about where those mines are, but he's also one of those arrogant, sadistic, and supremely suspicious little bastards who always sizes you up with a sideways leer and a hand poised over his holster. 

Few situations are more suspenseful than an undercover mission in which the good guys have to maintain their false identities amidst constant scrutiny by a ruthless enemy.  (It's an atmosphere of constant fear and paranoia in which even civilians have to keep their sh** wired tight at all times.)  Naturally, Lim Gye-jin and his men eventually must resort to the most desperate measures imaginable to try and procure a map of those mines, leading to their discovery. 

Their attempt to escape is the first blazing action setpiece of several during this film, each of which is masterfully shot and edited.  Director John H. Lee has a smoothly competent visual style complimented by some expert rapid-fire editing that crackles like a live wire without ever becoming cluttered or confusing.  In other words, this is red meat for action junkies.

A furious shootout in a hospital (during which an emotionally-conflicted young nurse must decide whether or not to abandon her current life and join the opposition) and other heated gun battles throughout the film are comparable to those in James Bond films or the works of John Woo.  And giving the story added depth is its attention to the combatants as human beings with their own dreams of freedom and yearning to return home to their loved ones. 

While all of this is going on, of course, there's Liam Neeson all made up as General Douglas MacArthur, complete with corncob pipe and shades, trying to add a new dimension to his career as an older character actor.  Once we stop thinking of him as Liam Neeson, his MacArthur is sufficiently convincing. Actually, I never stopped thinking of him as Liam Neeson, but I enjoyed watching him play the character anyway.

Lee Jung-jae makes a sturdy, likable good guy as Jang Hak-soo--he's the opposite of the usual soulless action hero and we're always aware of the depth of his feelings throughout the mission.  As Lim Gye-jin, Lee Beom-soo is a delight, albeit a perverse one since his character is such a smoothly evil little monster.  The rest of the cast are uniformly on point, making us feel each tragic and heartrending detail of their emotional turmoil when the mission begins to go all to hell.

With all this going on, BATTLE FOR INCHEON: OPERATION CHROMITE would've been enough with just the undercover mission alone.  But damned if it doesn't end with nothing less than the full-scale invasion of Incheon, with MacArthur leading a fleet of ships cutting through the churning waves and what's left of Jang Hak-soo and his men battling for their lives on the shore along with hundreds of other clashing warriors. 

I don't know how jaded the average young movie watcher is these days, but I think the generous amounts of CGI used to give the sequence added scope and big-budget appeal are rather impeccably rendered and eye-pleasing.  I mean, to me the battle scenes just look really well-done.  Others may disagree.

The DVD from CJ Entertainment is in 16x9 widescreen with Dolby 5.1 and 2.0 sound which you can watch in either dubbed English or the original Korean with subtitles.  Extras consist of a brief making-of featurette and trailers for this and other CJ Entertainment releases.

I had low hopes for BATTLE FOR INCHEON: OPERATION CHROMITE going in--from the looks of it, I was expecting something along the same cheapo lines as THE LAST DROP or something similarly horrible.  I love it when my first bad impressions of a film are proven wrong, and I end up having a great time watching what turns out to be a surprisingly well-crafted and entertaining film.

BATTLE FOR INCHEON: OPERATION CHROMITE -- DVD Review by Porfle