Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Rating: R
On 4K Ultra HD: December 13, 2022
Running Time: 117 minutes
Cast: Christopher Lambert, Roxanne Hart, Clancy Brown, and Sean Connery
Written by: Gregory Widen, Peter Bellwood, and Larry Ferguson
Directed by: Russell Mulcahy
Produced by: Peter S. Davis, William N. Panzer
Executive Producers: E.C. Monell
Associate Producers: Eva Monley, Harold Moskovitz, John H. Starke
Director of Photography: Gerry Fisher
Production Designer: Allan Cameron
Edited by: Peter Honess
Casting by: Diane Dimeo, Anne Henderson, Michael McLean
Costume Designer: Jim Acheson
Synopsis:
The original Highlander, in electrifying 4K! When Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) is slain in battle in the Scottish Highlands, his kinsfolk don’t mourn the tragedy of his death – they mourn the seeming witchcraft that’s brought him back to life. But MacLeod can’t die, and neither can Juan Ramírez (Sean Connery), who befriends Connor and shows him what it means to be immortal. Time dissolves,...
Rating: R
On 4K Ultra HD: December 13, 2022
Running Time: 117 minutes
Cast: Christopher Lambert, Roxanne Hart, Clancy Brown, and Sean Connery
Written by: Gregory Widen, Peter Bellwood, and Larry Ferguson
Directed by: Russell Mulcahy
Produced by: Peter S. Davis, William N. Panzer
Executive Producers: E.C. Monell
Associate Producers: Eva Monley, Harold Moskovitz, John H. Starke
Director of Photography: Gerry Fisher
Production Designer: Allan Cameron
Edited by: Peter Honess
Casting by: Diane Dimeo, Anne Henderson, Michael McLean
Costume Designer: Jim Acheson
Synopsis:
The original Highlander, in electrifying 4K! When Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) is slain in battle in the Scottish Highlands, his kinsfolk don’t mourn the tragedy of his death – they mourn the seeming witchcraft that’s brought him back to life. But MacLeod can’t die, and neither can Juan Ramírez (Sean Connery), who befriends Connor and shows him what it means to be immortal. Time dissolves,...
- 10/12/2022
- by ComicMix Staff
- Comicmix.com
Expatriate blacklistee Joseph Losey is the perfect director for this excellent, strange tale, a big award winner in France. The terrible Occupation-era victimization of the Jewish citizens of Paris is told tangentially from the viewpoint of a jackal-like opportunist who buys art and valuables cheaply from Jews desperate for cash. But Klein has a little ‘doppelgänger’ problem straight out of Franz Kafka . . . and finds himself in an existential nightmare that’s strangely . . . appropriate. This original, superior thriller arrives in a new special edition.
Mr. Klein
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1123
1976 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 123 min. / Monsieur Klein / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 10, 2022 / 39.95
Starring: Alain Delon, Jeanne Moreau, Francine Bergé, Michael Lonsdale, Juliet Berto, Suzanne Flon, Massimo Girotti, Jean Champion, Francine Racette, Louis Seigner.
Cinematography: Gerry Fisher
Production Designer: Alexandre Trauner
Film Editors: Marie Castro-Vasquez, Henri Lanoë, Michèle Neny
Original Music: Egisto Macchi, Pierre Porte
Written by Franco Solinas, collaborator...
Mr. Klein
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 1123
1976 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 123 min. / Monsieur Klein / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date May 10, 2022 / 39.95
Starring: Alain Delon, Jeanne Moreau, Francine Bergé, Michael Lonsdale, Juliet Berto, Suzanne Flon, Massimo Girotti, Jean Champion, Francine Racette, Louis Seigner.
Cinematography: Gerry Fisher
Production Designer: Alexandre Trauner
Film Editors: Marie Castro-Vasquez, Henri Lanoë, Michèle Neny
Original Music: Egisto Macchi, Pierre Porte
Written by Franco Solinas, collaborator...
- 5/10/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
As Disney quietly disappears huge swathes of film history into its vaults, I'm going to spend 2020 celebrating Twentieth Century Fox and the Fox Film Corporation's films, what one might call their output if only someone were putting it out.***"One of the truly outstanding incompetents" may have been Orson Welles's hilarious verdict on Franco-Irish director and madman John Guillermin, and looking at something like King Kong (1976) or God help us King Kong Lives (1986) one can't help but sense some justice in this, but in his earlier career, the energetic Guillermin showed some promise. His films throughout the fifties were solid and stolid in the way of too much British cinema of the time, but Rapture (1965) is a crazily stylish tour-de-force of excessive, out-of-control camera lurches and assaults which even Welles might have admired.The previous year Guillermin had made Guns at Batasi, a 99% British feature, but produced by...
- 10/14/2020
- MUBI
1981 was the Year of the Werewolf in horror; An American Werewolf in London and The Howling were easily the leaders of this particular pack, with Larry Cohen’s comedy Full Moon High offering up another unique monster spin. There was one other film that put its own twist on lycanthropy, and that’s Michael Wadleigh’s Wolfen, laden with social commentary writ large in place of silver bullets and gypsy fortune tellers. And it’s all the better for it.
Released Stateside in July by Orion Pictures, Wolfen (based on the novel by Whitley Strieber) only returned $10 million on its $17 million budget; critics however were very kind, unlike audiences who probably were expecting more traditional tropes for a trip to the movies. This is not that film; a measured pace and a heightened sense of intent set it apart from the others. (Plus the antagonists are shape shifting wolves, but...
Released Stateside in July by Orion Pictures, Wolfen (based on the novel by Whitley Strieber) only returned $10 million on its $17 million budget; critics however were very kind, unlike audiences who probably were expecting more traditional tropes for a trip to the movies. This is not that film; a measured pace and a heightened sense of intent set it apart from the others. (Plus the antagonists are shape shifting wolves, but...
- 8/12/2017
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
These fugitives on the run aren’t innocent young lovers. Still wanted for anti-war violence from years before, an ex-radical couple struggles to remain free just as their children become old enough to think for themselves. Screenwriter Naomi Foner and director Sidney Lumet’s fascinating movie is a sympathetic look at an untenable lifestyle.
Running on Empty
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1988 / Color / 1:85 enhanced widescreen / 116 min. / Street Date June 27, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Christine Lahti, River Phoenix, Judd Hirsch, Jonas Abry, Martha Plimpton, Ed Crowley, L.M. Kit Carson, Steven Hill, Augusta Dabney, David Margulies, Lynne Thigpen, Bobo Lewis, Daniel Dassin.
Cinematography: Gerry Fisher
Film Editor: Andrew Mondshein
Original Music: Tony Mottola
Written by Naomi Foner
Produced by Griffin Dunne, Amy Robinson
Directed by Sidney Lumet
1988 suddenly seems much farther in the past than it did just a few months ago. The small town high school in Running on Empty has a dedicated, classically trained music teacher on the payroll. He earns enough to afford a rather nice house. The public school system is not being undermined, with all the wealthy students going to new kinds of exclusive, alternative schools siphoning off public money. We all have our own ideas about what ‘making America great again’ means, I suppose.
It doesn’t happen any more, but we used to read about ex- radicals from the Vietnam War days surfacing to turn themselves in. Not that many were directly involved in violent acts, but some had lived for decades under assumed identities, while their wanted photos were posted down at the Post Office. Some of them tried to raise families.
“We are all outlaws in the eyes of America.
Everything they say we are, we are.
. . . And we are very proud of ourselves.”
— The Jefferson Airplane
Naomi Foner’s Running on Empty is basically a ‘what comes next?’ chapter in the lives of former political public enemies like The Weather Underground. An unusual family is on the lam. The parents are militant radicals from the Nixon years, who went underground when one of their bombs maimed a janitor. Now they are nearing their forties, and must move from town to town whenever they think the Feds have picked up their trail. The couple chose their life and has accepted the consequences, but where does that leave their growing children, who are likewise forced to live like gypsies under assumed names?
I should think that this good movie would have a tough time in today’s market. If the online mob harps on Wonder Woman for promoting non-traditional values, what would they make of a movie ‘glorifying terrorism?’ Half of America still wants to see Jane Fonda strung up by her thumbs, and death threats for ‘enemies’ singled out on the web are now routine. Our channels of information are so jammed with stories elbowing each other for attention, I don’t think anybody could rouse the general public to even consider the problems of this kind of fugitive. Who has time for scurrilous pleas for sympathy for ‘undeserving’ people, when the public responds better to patriotic pieces about veterans . . . or cute animals?
Always watching for signs of F.B.I. surveillance, young Danny Pope (River Phoenix) alerts the rest of his family through pre-arranged signals. Annie and Arthur Pope (Christine Lahti & Judd Hirsch) abandon their jobs, their belongings and even their dog and flee to a new state with Danny and their other son Harry (Jonas Abry). With new identities they start new lives. Arthur and Annie find off-the-books employment as a cook and a medical receptionist and the boys are enrolled in school with ‘previous transcripts on the way.’ We see the unusual preparations that must be made, with secret arrangements so that any family member can alert the others if they’re found out; we also see that the family is supported to some degree by a network of post-radical (or still radical?) sympathizers, such as a doctor (David Marguiles) who tends to political fugitives. But the Popes are cut off from their own families. Annie’s disapproving father (Steven Hill) can only see her in an extraordinary circumstance arranged by a third party. Potential trouble comes when former comrade Gus Winant (L.M. Kit Carson) drops by. He’d like to sleep with his old flame Annie, and is carrying guns in the assumption that Arthur will agree to rob a bank with him. But a more troubling problem is closer to home. Young Danny has inherited his mother’s musical talent, and his teacher Mr. Phillips (Ed Crowley) is encouraging him to apply to Julliard in New York. Danny is also stuck on Phillips’ teenage daughter Lorna (Martha Plimpton), a girl to whom he might be ready to commit. As far as Arthur is concerned, Danny can’t do any of those things because his first duty is to help his family in the undercover life. Annie doesn’t know what to do. If she leaves her son behind, she may never see him again.
Practically speaking, Running on Empty will only play well to a certain segment of the public. Are you the kind that sympathizes with draft deserters that fled to Canada, or the kind that wants to hand them long terms in prison? The Popes aren’t victims of injustice, at least not directly; they knew what they were doing when they went militant, and the injuries they caused can’t simply be dismissed as youthful idealism. They are also hopelessly associated with fanatics they inspired, like the Sla. And there’s no statute of limitations on armed insurrection. I think almost all of the radical fugitives that went underground are now accounted for. Some served prison time and others got off because courtroom prosecutions would reveal or publicize the government’s own illegal doings. Running on Empty dramatizes what might have been reality for just a few of these ‘outlaws in the eyes of America.’ Some radicals reportedly found it easy to live undetected while still on various Most Wanted lists. Others found ways to turn themselves in, square themselves with the authorities and re-commence academic lives interrupted years before to oppose the government. *
Running on Empty is a fascinating show, with a cast that clearly had to work hard to make their characters believable. Christine Lahti puts up with her bossy, security-minded husband. He himself gets drunk one night and starts shouting his real name loud enough to wake the neighbors. Judd Hirsch and director Lumet know that these can’t be ordinary people. He doesn’t try to make them Ozzie and Harriet types, somehow (sniff!) trapped by their youthful mistakes. No, they’re still promoting various Union and social justice causes here and there, although Arthur must back away whenever he becomes visible enough to appear in a news photo. Every year they celebrate a birthday to Sam, the man struck by their bomb. It’s not a joke, but a ritual so they won’t forget their crime.
At the center of the movie is the cult actor River Phoenix, who graduated briefly to good roles after his appearance as an adolescent space voyager in the fantasy film Explorers. Phoenix is excellent as Danny, a kid raised to never let down his guard. The show begins with Danny detecting a plainclothes tail and executing what must be ‘escape plan 9.’ The family is out of town in a matter of minutes. Danny’s a sensitive, smart guy. If he plays by the rules, he must keep himself a complete mystery to his new girlfriend Lorna. The boy is committed to his family, but feels the pull to go off on his own, where a decent future awaits. In a way, it’s not a situation wholly unique to these former radicals. This must happen all the time when someone breaks away from a strongly structured family, or a religious cult.
The movie’s tension level doubles when Danny takes the forbidden step of telling Lorna everything. How many of us living normal lives (well, reasonably normal lives) could trust our sweethearts with such a volatile secret: “I and my whole family are fugitives from justice. Anybody helping us is a potential accomplice. Just by letting you know, I’m putting you in legal jeopardy. Will you turn me in, or become a criminal with me?”
At this age Martha Plimpton might remind one of a teenage Lauren Bacall. A survivor of Goonies, she is featured in what I think is the best Cannon film, Shy People. Plimpton and Phoenix have several worthy melodramatic romantic scenes to play, and they’re excellent together.
With the ace director Sidney Lumet in charge the strange relationships seem credible, even when the flaky, reckless Gus Winant breezes through. The former radical patriot is now nothing but an outlaw bum. In a nice choice, Gus is played by L.M. Kit Carson, the original fake counterculture hero in the classic experimental faux-documentary David Holzman’s Diary. With dangerous idiots like Gus on the loose, the Popes can’t even consider themselves part of a noble creed. Some of their old colleagues are indeed armed and dangerous.
I don’t think the Popes would stand a chance of evading the cops in today’s security state. One can no longer simply find the name of a dead infant and apply for a new birth certificate and passport. The Popes aren’t hiding in a shack in the woods, but are out and about in the public, working and rubbing elbows with schools and doctors. I guess that back in the 1980s Arthur could become a cook and Annie a receptionist without references, but it’s less likely now, when one can’t buy bubble gum without leaving a data trail. Traffic and security surveillance cameras are now everywhere. Billions of smart-phone photos are taken at public gatherings, and routinely posted on the web. A high-level security agency could be (is?) scanning the web with face recognition software.
Sidney Lumet wrote that his movies Running on Empty and Daniel had the same theme: “Who pays for the passion and commitment of the parents?” This is an even-handed and insightful drama. Lumet made a wide range of great entertainments, and some of the best- ever ‘New York Jewish Liberal Movies.’ He’s also one of the few directors who could take on fundamentally controversial material like this, and continue to maintain a busy career.
The Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray of Running on Empty is a good encoding of what was already a very good Wac Mod disc from just two years ago. The improved picture and sound reveals the expected quality of a top Sidney Lumet product. The small town we see is very attractive, a political landscape completely different from the corporate/banking rapacious wasteland of last year’s Hell or High Water. ‘Radicals unselfishly trying to stop a war in 1971’ is still anathema, while Mr. and Mrs. U.S.A. now considers it justifiable for ‘radicals to selfishly try to rescue their ruined finances.’
Madonna is on the soundtrack for a scene in Daniel’s music class. The final James Taylor song Fire and Rain works extremely well in context: “. . . and I always thought that I’d see you again.”
On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor,
Running on Empty Blu-ray rates:
Movie: Excellent
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements: none
Deaf and Hearing Impaired Friendly? Yes; Subtitles: English (feature only)
Packaging: Keep case
Reviewed: June 21, 2017
(5451empt)
* I remember a major case from 2001. A radical who had evaded capture for thirty years finalized arrangements to turn herself in, after a delicate negotiation aimed at running her quietly through the legal system to let her get on with her life. She was reportedly not personally responsible for any violent acts, and under her assumed identity had worked for decades in a socially productive job. I followed her story for a couple of days in the newspaper . . . and then 9/11 happened. In the storm of security-minded post-attack chaos that followed, her story thread just vanished from the media-scape. I don’t have a clue what happened to her next. The timing couldn’t possibly have been worse for a former Enemy of the State.
Visit DVD Savant’s Main Column Page
Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: dvdsavant@mindspring.com
Text © Copyright 2017 Glenn Erickson...
Running on Empty
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1988 / Color / 1:85 enhanced widescreen / 116 min. / Street Date June 27, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Christine Lahti, River Phoenix, Judd Hirsch, Jonas Abry, Martha Plimpton, Ed Crowley, L.M. Kit Carson, Steven Hill, Augusta Dabney, David Margulies, Lynne Thigpen, Bobo Lewis, Daniel Dassin.
Cinematography: Gerry Fisher
Film Editor: Andrew Mondshein
Original Music: Tony Mottola
Written by Naomi Foner
Produced by Griffin Dunne, Amy Robinson
Directed by Sidney Lumet
1988 suddenly seems much farther in the past than it did just a few months ago. The small town high school in Running on Empty has a dedicated, classically trained music teacher on the payroll. He earns enough to afford a rather nice house. The public school system is not being undermined, with all the wealthy students going to new kinds of exclusive, alternative schools siphoning off public money. We all have our own ideas about what ‘making America great again’ means, I suppose.
It doesn’t happen any more, but we used to read about ex- radicals from the Vietnam War days surfacing to turn themselves in. Not that many were directly involved in violent acts, but some had lived for decades under assumed identities, while their wanted photos were posted down at the Post Office. Some of them tried to raise families.
“We are all outlaws in the eyes of America.
Everything they say we are, we are.
. . . And we are very proud of ourselves.”
— The Jefferson Airplane
Naomi Foner’s Running on Empty is basically a ‘what comes next?’ chapter in the lives of former political public enemies like The Weather Underground. An unusual family is on the lam. The parents are militant radicals from the Nixon years, who went underground when one of their bombs maimed a janitor. Now they are nearing their forties, and must move from town to town whenever they think the Feds have picked up their trail. The couple chose their life and has accepted the consequences, but where does that leave their growing children, who are likewise forced to live like gypsies under assumed names?
I should think that this good movie would have a tough time in today’s market. If the online mob harps on Wonder Woman for promoting non-traditional values, what would they make of a movie ‘glorifying terrorism?’ Half of America still wants to see Jane Fonda strung up by her thumbs, and death threats for ‘enemies’ singled out on the web are now routine. Our channels of information are so jammed with stories elbowing each other for attention, I don’t think anybody could rouse the general public to even consider the problems of this kind of fugitive. Who has time for scurrilous pleas for sympathy for ‘undeserving’ people, when the public responds better to patriotic pieces about veterans . . . or cute animals?
Always watching for signs of F.B.I. surveillance, young Danny Pope (River Phoenix) alerts the rest of his family through pre-arranged signals. Annie and Arthur Pope (Christine Lahti & Judd Hirsch) abandon their jobs, their belongings and even their dog and flee to a new state with Danny and their other son Harry (Jonas Abry). With new identities they start new lives. Arthur and Annie find off-the-books employment as a cook and a medical receptionist and the boys are enrolled in school with ‘previous transcripts on the way.’ We see the unusual preparations that must be made, with secret arrangements so that any family member can alert the others if they’re found out; we also see that the family is supported to some degree by a network of post-radical (or still radical?) sympathizers, such as a doctor (David Marguiles) who tends to political fugitives. But the Popes are cut off from their own families. Annie’s disapproving father (Steven Hill) can only see her in an extraordinary circumstance arranged by a third party. Potential trouble comes when former comrade Gus Winant (L.M. Kit Carson) drops by. He’d like to sleep with his old flame Annie, and is carrying guns in the assumption that Arthur will agree to rob a bank with him. But a more troubling problem is closer to home. Young Danny has inherited his mother’s musical talent, and his teacher Mr. Phillips (Ed Crowley) is encouraging him to apply to Julliard in New York. Danny is also stuck on Phillips’ teenage daughter Lorna (Martha Plimpton), a girl to whom he might be ready to commit. As far as Arthur is concerned, Danny can’t do any of those things because his first duty is to help his family in the undercover life. Annie doesn’t know what to do. If she leaves her son behind, she may never see him again.
Practically speaking, Running on Empty will only play well to a certain segment of the public. Are you the kind that sympathizes with draft deserters that fled to Canada, or the kind that wants to hand them long terms in prison? The Popes aren’t victims of injustice, at least not directly; they knew what they were doing when they went militant, and the injuries they caused can’t simply be dismissed as youthful idealism. They are also hopelessly associated with fanatics they inspired, like the Sla. And there’s no statute of limitations on armed insurrection. I think almost all of the radical fugitives that went underground are now accounted for. Some served prison time and others got off because courtroom prosecutions would reveal or publicize the government’s own illegal doings. Running on Empty dramatizes what might have been reality for just a few of these ‘outlaws in the eyes of America.’ Some radicals reportedly found it easy to live undetected while still on various Most Wanted lists. Others found ways to turn themselves in, square themselves with the authorities and re-commence academic lives interrupted years before to oppose the government. *
Running on Empty is a fascinating show, with a cast that clearly had to work hard to make their characters believable. Christine Lahti puts up with her bossy, security-minded husband. He himself gets drunk one night and starts shouting his real name loud enough to wake the neighbors. Judd Hirsch and director Lumet know that these can’t be ordinary people. He doesn’t try to make them Ozzie and Harriet types, somehow (sniff!) trapped by their youthful mistakes. No, they’re still promoting various Union and social justice causes here and there, although Arthur must back away whenever he becomes visible enough to appear in a news photo. Every year they celebrate a birthday to Sam, the man struck by their bomb. It’s not a joke, but a ritual so they won’t forget their crime.
At the center of the movie is the cult actor River Phoenix, who graduated briefly to good roles after his appearance as an adolescent space voyager in the fantasy film Explorers. Phoenix is excellent as Danny, a kid raised to never let down his guard. The show begins with Danny detecting a plainclothes tail and executing what must be ‘escape plan 9.’ The family is out of town in a matter of minutes. Danny’s a sensitive, smart guy. If he plays by the rules, he must keep himself a complete mystery to his new girlfriend Lorna. The boy is committed to his family, but feels the pull to go off on his own, where a decent future awaits. In a way, it’s not a situation wholly unique to these former radicals. This must happen all the time when someone breaks away from a strongly structured family, or a religious cult.
The movie’s tension level doubles when Danny takes the forbidden step of telling Lorna everything. How many of us living normal lives (well, reasonably normal lives) could trust our sweethearts with such a volatile secret: “I and my whole family are fugitives from justice. Anybody helping us is a potential accomplice. Just by letting you know, I’m putting you in legal jeopardy. Will you turn me in, or become a criminal with me?”
At this age Martha Plimpton might remind one of a teenage Lauren Bacall. A survivor of Goonies, she is featured in what I think is the best Cannon film, Shy People. Plimpton and Phoenix have several worthy melodramatic romantic scenes to play, and they’re excellent together.
With the ace director Sidney Lumet in charge the strange relationships seem credible, even when the flaky, reckless Gus Winant breezes through. The former radical patriot is now nothing but an outlaw bum. In a nice choice, Gus is played by L.M. Kit Carson, the original fake counterculture hero in the classic experimental faux-documentary David Holzman’s Diary. With dangerous idiots like Gus on the loose, the Popes can’t even consider themselves part of a noble creed. Some of their old colleagues are indeed armed and dangerous.
I don’t think the Popes would stand a chance of evading the cops in today’s security state. One can no longer simply find the name of a dead infant and apply for a new birth certificate and passport. The Popes aren’t hiding in a shack in the woods, but are out and about in the public, working and rubbing elbows with schools and doctors. I guess that back in the 1980s Arthur could become a cook and Annie a receptionist without references, but it’s less likely now, when one can’t buy bubble gum without leaving a data trail. Traffic and security surveillance cameras are now everywhere. Billions of smart-phone photos are taken at public gatherings, and routinely posted on the web. A high-level security agency could be (is?) scanning the web with face recognition software.
Sidney Lumet wrote that his movies Running on Empty and Daniel had the same theme: “Who pays for the passion and commitment of the parents?” This is an even-handed and insightful drama. Lumet made a wide range of great entertainments, and some of the best- ever ‘New York Jewish Liberal Movies.’ He’s also one of the few directors who could take on fundamentally controversial material like this, and continue to maintain a busy career.
The Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray of Running on Empty is a good encoding of what was already a very good Wac Mod disc from just two years ago. The improved picture and sound reveals the expected quality of a top Sidney Lumet product. The small town we see is very attractive, a political landscape completely different from the corporate/banking rapacious wasteland of last year’s Hell or High Water. ‘Radicals unselfishly trying to stop a war in 1971’ is still anathema, while Mr. and Mrs. U.S.A. now considers it justifiable for ‘radicals to selfishly try to rescue their ruined finances.’
Madonna is on the soundtrack for a scene in Daniel’s music class. The final James Taylor song Fire and Rain works extremely well in context: “. . . and I always thought that I’d see you again.”
On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor,
Running on Empty Blu-ray rates:
Movie: Excellent
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements: none
Deaf and Hearing Impaired Friendly? Yes; Subtitles: English (feature only)
Packaging: Keep case
Reviewed: June 21, 2017
(5451empt)
* I remember a major case from 2001. A radical who had evaded capture for thirty years finalized arrangements to turn herself in, after a delicate negotiation aimed at running her quietly through the legal system to let her get on with her life. She was reportedly not personally responsible for any violent acts, and under her assumed identity had worked for decades in a socially productive job. I followed her story for a couple of days in the newspaper . . . and then 9/11 happened. In the storm of security-minded post-attack chaos that followed, her story thread just vanished from the media-scape. I don’t have a clue what happened to her next. The timing couldn’t possibly have been worse for a former Enemy of the State.
Visit DVD Savant’s Main Column Page
Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: dvdsavant@mindspring.com
Text © Copyright 2017 Glenn Erickson...
- 6/23/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Savant UK correspondent Lee Broughton analyzes one of his favorite pictures starring Stacy Keach, who seemed to make only cult items in the '70s and '80s. William Peter Blatty dishes out a thick mix of comedy and dark soul-searching about the human condition as a Caligari- insane asylum, but with new twists. The Ninth Configuration Second Sight Region B Blu-ray 1980 / Colour / 2.35:1 enhanced widescreen / 118 m. / available through Amazon.uk Starring Stacy Keach, Scott Wilson, Jason Miller, Ed Flanders, Neville Brand, George Dicenzo, Moses Gunn, Robert Loggia, Joe Spinell, Tom Atkins. Cinematography Gerry Fisher Production Design William Malley Film Editors Peter Taylor, T. Battle Davis, Roberto Silvi, Peter Lee-Thompson Original Music Barry DeVorzon Written, Produced and Directed by William Peter Blatty from his novel
Reviewed by Lee Broughton
(Note: Savant reviews as a guest at Tfh. Here I stretch my prerogatives by presenting a review from Lee Broughton, a valued U.
Reviewed by Lee Broughton
(Note: Savant reviews as a guest at Tfh. Here I stretch my prerogatives by presenting a review from Lee Broughton, a valued U.
- 6/26/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Long considered to be one of British auteur Tony Richardson’s greatest miscalculations is his 1970 film Ned Kelly, certainly the most notable but arguably the definitive version as concerns one of Australia’s most infamous outlaws. Arriving on Blu-ray for the first time, the title remains a curious novelty, one of a handful of on-screen appearances featuring The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger in a high-profile role. As many of these once-reviled titles go, the history behind the making of the film tends to overshadow the compromised product, and Richardson’s failed period piece is no exception.
In the late 1800s Outback, horse thief and aspiring bank robber Ned Kelly (Jagger) is released after serving a three year prison sentence. Harassed by the law and his angry neighbors, the ornery bushranger is forced into action when his mother (Clarissa Kaye) is unjustly accused of murder and sentenced to prison. His resulting...
In the late 1800s Outback, horse thief and aspiring bank robber Ned Kelly (Jagger) is released after serving a three year prison sentence. Harassed by the law and his angry neighbors, the ornery bushranger is forced into action when his mother (Clarissa Kaye) is unjustly accused of murder and sentenced to prison. His resulting...
- 7/21/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Just now catching up with the news at cinematographer Gerry Fisher passed away on December 2. He was 88 and, as the Telegraph notes, he "worked with some of the most renowned film directors of the second half of the 20th century, including Carol Reed, John Huston and Billy Wilder. However, he will be best remembered for his long collaboration with the cinematic auteur Joseph Losey, for whom he shot eight films, including Accident (1967) and The Go-Between (1971)." We've gathered remembrances from two cameramen he worked with, Richard Andry and Pierre-William Glenn as well as an assessment of his work by Verina Glaessner in Film Reference. » - David Hudson...
- 1/7/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
Just now catching up with the news at cinematographer Gerry Fisher passed away on December 2. He was 88 and, as the Telegraph notes, he "worked with some of the most renowned film directors of the second half of the 20th century, including Carol Reed, John Huston and Billy Wilder. However, he will be best remembered for his long collaboration with the cinematic auteur Joseph Losey, for whom he shot eight films, including Accident (1967) and The Go-Between (1971)." We've gathered remembrances from two cameramen he worked with, Richard Andry and Pierre-William Glenn as well as an assessment of his work by Verina Glaessner in Film Reference. » - David Hudson...
- 1/7/2015
- Keyframe
Every year, we here at Sound On Sight celebrate the month of October with 31 Days of Horror; and every year, I update the list of my favourite horror films ever made. Last year, I released a list that included 150 picks. This year, I’ll be upgrading the list, making minor alterations, changing the rankings, adding new entries, and possibly removing a few titles. I’ve also decided to publish each post backwards this time for one reason: the new additions appear lower on my list, whereas my top 50 haven’t changed much, except for maybe in ranking. I am including documentaries, short films and mini series, only as special mentions – along with a few features that can qualify as horror, but barely do.
Come Back Tonight To See My List Of The 200 Best!
****
Special Mention:
Wait until Dark
Directed by Terence Young
Written by Robert Carrington
USA, 1967
Directed by Terence Young,...
Come Back Tonight To See My List Of The 200 Best!
****
Special Mention:
Wait until Dark
Directed by Terence Young
Written by Robert Carrington
USA, 1967
Directed by Terence Young,...
- 10/31/2013
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Secret documents in the case of Chandra Levy's murder will be revealed thanks to a Washington D.C. Superior Court judge's ruling.
Ingmar Guandique was convicted in 2010 of murdering the 24-year-old Washington intern in 2001 and in 2011 was given two concurrent 60-year sentences. But Guandique's defense now seeks to overturn the conviction with new evidence about a lead witness.
Hearings in late 2012 and Jan. 2013 involved secret conversations between Judge Gerald Fisher and lawyers in the case, and now CNN reports transcripts of those communications will be unsealed. The Associated Press and other media outlets requested the court unseal the documents, and Fisher ruled the transcripts released. The conversations took place at Fisher's bench, precluding courtroom observers from hearing what was argued.
Guandique was convicted with no physical evidence linking him to Levy's death nearly a decade prior. A former gang member and convicted felon, Armando Morales, testified that Guandique confessed to him.
Ingmar Guandique was convicted in 2010 of murdering the 24-year-old Washington intern in 2001 and in 2011 was given two concurrent 60-year sentences. But Guandique's defense now seeks to overturn the conviction with new evidence about a lead witness.
Hearings in late 2012 and Jan. 2013 involved secret conversations between Judge Gerald Fisher and lawyers in the case, and now CNN reports transcripts of those communications will be unsealed. The Associated Press and other media outlets requested the court unseal the documents, and Fisher ruled the transcripts released. The conversations took place at Fisher's bench, precluding courtroom observers from hearing what was argued.
Guandique was convicted with no physical evidence linking him to Levy's death nearly a decade prior. A former gang member and convicted felon, Armando Morales, testified that Guandique confessed to him.
- 7/30/2013
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
Ever since the release of the Academy Award nominated The Exorcist, back in 1973, Hollywood has benefited quite a bit from movies about exorcism, and the box office numbers show no signs of recession. With the release of The Last Exorcism 2, I decided to spotlight three films that are criminally overlooked, and that I think fans would definitely enjoy.
****
Here Comes the Devil
Directed Adrián García Bogliano
Screenplay by Adrián García Bogliano
2012, Mexico
From Argentinian filmmaker Adrián García Bogliano, Here Comes the Devil, is a coming of age tale of demonic possession, sexual awakening and suspected child abuse. Staying clear of the typical traps of exploitation, Bogliano takes a low-key, less graphic approach to the unearthly proceedings. This isn’t your standard possession film. That’s not to say there aren’t displays of the supernatural, but those hoping for frightening exorcisms may be disappointed (although you will get scenes of levitation,...
****
Here Comes the Devil
Directed Adrián García Bogliano
Screenplay by Adrián García Bogliano
2012, Mexico
From Argentinian filmmaker Adrián García Bogliano, Here Comes the Devil, is a coming of age tale of demonic possession, sexual awakening and suspected child abuse. Staying clear of the typical traps of exploitation, Bogliano takes a low-key, less graphic approach to the unearthly proceedings. This isn’t your standard possession film. That’s not to say there aren’t displays of the supernatural, but those hoping for frightening exorcisms may be disappointed (although you will get scenes of levitation,...
- 2/23/2013
- by Ricky da Conceição
- SoundOnSight
It has been a year since Sidney Lumet passed away on April 9, 2011. Here is our retrospective on the legendary filmmaker to honor his memory. Originally published April 15, 2011.
Almost a week after the fact, we, like everyone that loves film, are still mourning the passing of the great American master Sidney Lumet, one of the true titans of cinema.
Lumet was never fancy. He never needed to be, as a master of blocking, economic camera movements and framing that empowered the emotion and or exact punctuation of a particular scene. First and foremost, as you’ve likely heard ad nauseum -- but hell, it’s true -- Lumet was a storyteller, and one that preferred his beloved New York to soundstages (though let's not romanticize it too much, he did his fair share of work on studio film sets too as most TV journeyman and early studio filmmakers did).
His directing career stretched well over 50 years,...
Almost a week after the fact, we, like everyone that loves film, are still mourning the passing of the great American master Sidney Lumet, one of the true titans of cinema.
Lumet was never fancy. He never needed to be, as a master of blocking, economic camera movements and framing that empowered the emotion and or exact punctuation of a particular scene. First and foremost, as you’ve likely heard ad nauseum -- but hell, it’s true -- Lumet was a storyteller, and one that preferred his beloved New York to soundstages (though let's not romanticize it too much, he did his fair share of work on studio film sets too as most TV journeyman and early studio filmmakers did).
His directing career stretched well over 50 years,...
- 4/9/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
I was looking forward to seeing Juggernaut on TCM not too long ago when I saw it show up on the classics channel’s schedule. Even in this cable/download/Netflix age of constant program recycling, the movie rarely shows up on TV, maybe because it had been such an instant and complete flop when released theatrically in 1974. Still, this UK-produced film has always been one of my pet favorites, a flick I have long felt died an undeserved death, and I was psyched at the chance to see it again.
In synopsis, I admit the movie doesn’t sound like much. Or perhaps I should say it sounds way too familiar. A nutcase has put seven bombs on an ocean liner and threatens to sink the ship unless he’s given a ransom of £500,000. The ship is far from land, no other vessels are close enough to render assistance,...
In synopsis, I admit the movie doesn’t sound like much. Or perhaps I should say it sounds way too familiar. A nutcase has put seven bombs on an ocean liner and threatens to sink the ship unless he’s given a ransom of £500,000. The ship is far from land, no other vessels are close enough to render assistance,...
- 11/28/2011
- by Bill Mesce
- SoundOnSight
Congratulations to Jamie Ellis, Christine Russell and Tim Newsome - a set is on its way to each you!
As the hi-def assault gathers momentum, Optimum Home Entertainment are releasing some bona fide classics on Blu-ray via The Studio Canal Collection. Revisiting Studio Canal's back catalogue, the 15th Feb sees a wonderfully eclectic trio released exclusively on Blu-ray for the first time. What's more, Optimum have 3 sets to give away for lucky Twitch readers in the UK.
First up is The Go-Between, based on LP Hartley's novel of the same name, starring Julie Christie, Edward Fox and Alan Bates in a magnificently English period drama, of lusty Victorians and adolescent confusion. This was probably the first film that gave me faith in movies being able to interpret novels successfully, having read the book at school and subsequently dug out the film. An in-her-prime Christie probably helped too...
Next is...
As the hi-def assault gathers momentum, Optimum Home Entertainment are releasing some bona fide classics on Blu-ray via The Studio Canal Collection. Revisiting Studio Canal's back catalogue, the 15th Feb sees a wonderfully eclectic trio released exclusively on Blu-ray for the first time. What's more, Optimum have 3 sets to give away for lucky Twitch readers in the UK.
First up is The Go-Between, based on LP Hartley's novel of the same name, starring Julie Christie, Edward Fox and Alan Bates in a magnificently English period drama, of lusty Victorians and adolescent confusion. This was probably the first film that gave me faith in movies being able to interpret novels successfully, having read the book at school and subsequently dug out the film. An in-her-prime Christie probably helped too...
Next is...
- 2/21/2010
- Screen Anarchy
Release Date: May 12
Writer: Flannery O’Connor (novel), Benedict & Michael Fitzgerald
Director: John Huston
Cinematographer: Gerry Fisher
Starring: Brad Dourif, John Huston, Harry Dean Stanton
Studio/Run Time: Anthea, 108 mins.
Intense adaptation of Flannery O’Connor’s first novel lacks her poetry
“No man with a good car needs to be justified!” screeches delusional street preacher Hazel Motes of his self-made “Church Without Christ” in Flannery O’Connor’s first novel, Wise Blood, which legendary director John Huston faithfully adapted to the screen in 1979. Unfortunately, said car is a scrapheap—and the film clangs about, too. While intensely acted by the lock-jawed Brad Dourif (Billy from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) Motes is a repulsive sort of ascetic, as he lashes out at the twisted, unsympathetic freaks surrounding him. Lacking the poetry of O’Connor (as well as her underlying faith), Huston opts for a dissonant tone throughout the film.
Writer: Flannery O’Connor (novel), Benedict & Michael Fitzgerald
Director: John Huston
Cinematographer: Gerry Fisher
Starring: Brad Dourif, John Huston, Harry Dean Stanton
Studio/Run Time: Anthea, 108 mins.
Intense adaptation of Flannery O’Connor’s first novel lacks her poetry
“No man with a good car needs to be justified!” screeches delusional street preacher Hazel Motes of his self-made “Church Without Christ” in Flannery O’Connor’s first novel, Wise Blood, which legendary director John Huston faithfully adapted to the screen in 1979. Unfortunately, said car is a scrapheap—and the film clangs about, too. While intensely acted by the lock-jawed Brad Dourif (Billy from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) Motes is a repulsive sort of ascetic, as he lashes out at the twisted, unsympathetic freaks surrounding him. Lacking the poetry of O’Connor (as well as her underlying faith), Huston opts for a dissonant tone throughout the film.
- 5/29/2009
- Pastemagazine.com
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