ruffrider's Reviews

The Satan Bug (1965)

9/10

Killer Bugs and Route 66 alumni - who could ask for more?

24 February 2012

I was an usher at the Silver Spring Theater (now restored as the AFI Film Institute) in Silver Spring, MD when "The Satan Bug" came out and so I got to see it more than once. It's a taut thriller with a germ warfare theme that seemed very cutting edge in 1965 and it was the first time I'd seen George Maharis since he played "Buz" on TV's "Route 66." Other veterans of that defunct TV series were Satan Bug players Ann Francis, Ed Asner and Richard Basehart. I got to speak to Asner several times on the phone and we discussed "The Satan Bug." Apparently director John Sturges was busy having meetings for his next film project, so Ed had to rely on his own intuition to add certain things like the gravelly voice he adopted after the chop to the throat he received from Maharis' character Lee Barrett.

However absent Sturges may have been during filming, the film doesn't show it and moves briskly along as Barrett races to find the stolen flask containing a deadly virus that threatens all life on Earth. This film still works for me 47 years after I first saw it and seems relevant in the post-9/11 world of terrorist threats. "The Satan Bug" remains an overlooked gem of suspense and cold-war era paranoia and is well worth a look.

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The Starlost (1973–1974)

4/10

Great concept, cheesy execution and still fun!

15 September 2006

I was in my my 20's when I saw the pilot episode in 1973 - a story about an Amish-style community, some of whose young inhabitants defy their elders then stumble upon a portal into a much bigger world. The reactionary little town turns out to be just one pod in a gigantic spaceship, built to save samples of the Earth's populations - a Noah's Ark to transport humans to another world when the Earth is threatened with extinction. The concept was completely unique and though I only saw only a few episodes the memories stayed with me over the years. I finally acquired the entire series (16 episodes) on DVD last week and watched it end-to-end.

I still find Harlan Ellison's concept intriguing, and that's what kept me watching a series that's been so maligned the bad press alone probably scares off most viewers. It's cheesy 1970's TV, all right, with the actors plopped down in the middle of colorful and completely artificial-looking chroma-key sets and all the buildings in the various life pods look like 18-inch-high models sitting on tables, but still I wanted to see what our 3 intrepid heroes Devin, Rachel and Garth would find in their efforts to save the giant ship.

Often the show looked like it was made for kids (each pod seemed to contain an evil dictator, who ruled over an "empire" consisting of about a dozen people), but I hung in there, all the time wondering what might have been with good writing and state-of-the-art technology. "The Starlost" still seems like a concept worth doing right - maybe even on the big screen.

One thing that troubled me was the simple lack of logic, even on the show's own terms. The premise of the series was that it was up to 3 young people to save the giant starship, who's control section and crew were long ago destroyed, putting the ship on a collision course with a star. If a way could be found to correct said course you'd think all would be well and the series could be concluded, right? Not so fast! In episode 14, 2 scientists help Devin, Rachel and Garth fix the reactor(s), enabling the Starlost to avoid its most imminent danger, a comet. At this crucial juncture, with the ability to change course at hand, does anyone, (scientists, heroes, producers or writers) say "hey, while we're avoiding the comet, let's just reset the course so we won't be heading for the star any more and SAVE THE SHIP?" Not with a contractual obligation to produce 2 more episodes they don't, so the series plods on through 2 more episodes then stops dead. I wonder if anyone realized they might have simply repodered the episodes to make #14 the last one and use it to wrap up the series.

To sum up, you may find this series campy fun, in spite of all its shortcomings - I did, but I had to make a lot of allowances ...... and swallow a lot of cheese.

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Space Fury (1999 Video)

1/10

Excuse me for this ...

2 August 2006

I usually only critique favorite films, so I'll have something good to say, but I was up all night and couldn't find anything else to watch, so there went my night and consequently I offer this review. The film starts with a space shuttle crashing into an orbiting space station while "docking" and nobody on said station says anything about it, like that's normal! In fact, the space station occupants give smiles and "How ya doin'!" waves through the windows to the shuttle crew before they board the now-crippled station. That's about as much sense as this movie makes, but a few scenes were so comically inept I'd be remiss if I didn't mention them. For one, Michael Pare's character seems to be psychotic simply because the script needs him to be, no other reason; he's not in the least believable and in fact plain silly. The first "fight scene" with Tony Curtis Blondell is one of the most comically inept pieces of film-making I've ever seen, even taking into account the fact that this film was probably made for kids. Pare's character just blurts out ridiculously stupid things, first to provoke pointless fights then later to show his "passion" for fellow space station occupier Lisa Bingley, who's clearly the best thing about this movie, visually and dramatically. I kept asking myself "WHO WROTE (if that is the word) THIS SCRIPT?" Most of the film consists of Pare's psychotic antics, the mostly not-so-good effects and about the worst screenplay I've ever seen. Strangely, former boxer George Chuvalo and his Russian cohorts on the ground control station come off the best and most believable.

I don't like to criticize acting, per se, and a perfect reason why is a film like this. I've seen Michael Pare in many other places and have enjoyed his work, so when he looks inept I don't blame him but rather the screen writer, who's supposed to provide a decent story and believable characters, the director, who's supposed to film the script intelligibly and the post-production people, whose job it is to edit the hours of film into a coherent, watchable whole. These 3 "units" failed miserably, leaving the actors and the movie to flounder. Now "Plan Nine From Outer Space" has long enjoyed a reputation as "arguably the worst movie ever made," but after viewing "Space Fury" all I can say is "move over, 'Plan Nine,' you've got serious competition."

After sitting through 90 minutes of this awful mess I must admit I was rewarded for my patience with a finale consisting of the space station turned into a flaming, spinning cartwheel as it entered the earth's atmosphere and began to burn up, accompanied by a last-second escape into a shuttle craft by Blondell and Bingley. This ending was so much better than the rest of the film I felt it belonged in a different - and far better - movie. As for the rest of the film, unless you like your sci-fi silly, incoherent and inept, I'd avoid it like a space station that's afire and plunging toward earth.

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Nothing But a Man (1964)

The Defining Movie about a black man's struggles in the south

23 May 2006

Warning: Spoilers

Over the years the struggles of blacks in the racist south have been rendered in fiction by books like Faulkner's "Light in August" and films like "Hurry Sundown," (though blacks were relatively minor characters in this film), "Sounder," "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," "A Woman Called Moses" and "Ragtime." "Nothing But a Man" predates the other films and broke new ground by depicting the plight of a young black man who refuses to knuckle under to the times and the expectations placed on him.

Duff Anderson is a section hand earning good money on a railroad construction gang in the south of the 1960's. Carefree and aimless, he sends money to the woman who raises his little boy and meets his own absentee father for the first time since his childhood, only to be brutally rejected. Duff's life changes dramatically when he falls in love with Josie, whose minister father "gets along" by accommodating the white man and who wants nothing to do with rootless Duff. In spite of the minister's objections Josie and Duff are married, but Duff's attempt to unionize at his new job gets him fired and local whites threaten his life when he refuses to cow-tow to bigots. At the end of the story Duff's father dies after rejecting his son yet again, prompting Duff to admit "I'm just like him." But Duff is a far better man than his father could ever be, for at a time when nonstop adversity would have broken a lesser person, he takes custody of his little son and returns to Josie determined to be a husband and parent, the two roles at which his own father failed so miserably.

Everything in this film rings true, from the opening scenes with the railroad gang to the tearful reunion with his family at the end. The dialog is almost unrelentingly cynical, as Duff comes to see his courtship of Josie through the eyes of his railroad pals and his disapproving father-in-law and views his prospects for employment and success in the light of bitter experiences with back-stabbing co-workers, unsympathetic employers and white racists.

Ivan Dixon is superb as Duff and Abbey Lincoln is equally fine as the supportive wife who must share her husband's fate. The black-and-white filming underscores the seriousness of the subject matter and the bleakness of Duff's life. This is a classic film, not to be missed.

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The Hospital (1971)

9/10

Patients check in, but they don't check out!

11 May 2006

Warning: Spoilers

If you liked Paddy Chayevsky's "Network" you'll probably like this black comedy as well, as it's another brilliant Chayevsky script, a wonderful satire on big-city hospitals and a perfect vehicle for Geo. C. Scott. He plays a burned-out chief of medicine on the most chaotic day he or his hospital have ever seen. His personal crisis is coming to a head and his hospital's falling down around him, as local residents demonstrate against the hospital and patients and doctors are dying at an alarming rate, thanks to a biblically-inspired and murderous saboteur. The latter, who theatrically declares himself the "Fool for Christ," "Parakleet of Kaborka," "Wrath of the Lamb," and "Angel of the Bottomless Pit," bops doctors on the head, administers lethal injections and swaps patients' identities, causing treatments and operations to be performed on the wrong persons.

This film makes you uncomfortable, as deadly mistakes like these do happen (hopefully not so many, not so often and not in one place) and at the same time makes you laugh at the priceless character portraits. One is Richard Dysart ("L.A. Law") as Dr. Wellbeck, a sort of celebrity surgeon who spends far more time worrying about his investments and publicly-traded stock than about his patients, who suffer lethally from his vast indifference and neglect. There's Diana Rigg as free-spirited, hippie-ish Barbara Drummond, who seduces the beleaguered chief of medicine (Scott) and tries to get him to run away with her. Then there's the deluded murderer, who happens to be Barbara's father and who "functions well enough" back at the Indian reservation where he lives with his daughter and even runs a clinic, but who's pushed to madness merely by being placed back in civilization. The strongest portrait by far is Scott's Dr. Bock, who bares his soul as former boy genius, failed father and husband, brilliant doctor and responsible administrator, who constantly dreams of suicide but must bear up under the demands of his job. Scott is exceptional in this demanding role.

Until the final scenes one doesn't know if Bock will leave the hospital behind for Barbara's Indian reservation and a quieter, simpler life, whether her murderous father will be caught or whether the protesting, rioting locals will take over and bring the hospital to its knees. Watching the crazed killer at work, one suspects Chayevsky is telling us our lunatic society makes him do these things, as we're told he's a different person away from cities and people.

As my own father was the chief administrator of a number of large hospitals over the years, I had some idea of the demands of his job and the huge responsibility he shouldered. This story makes that responsibility the linchpin on which Scott's crisis turns. This is both a funny and scary film, with the actors up to the considerable demands of Chayevsky's script. It's also a film I get more out of each time I watch it.

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Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)

9/10

The last of the film noires

24 April 2006

This terrific film says goodbye to the classic black-and-white film noir, the genre that gave us a cynical, bleak world where women are evil temptresses and men are world-weary tough guys or criminals, who do what they must to survive. Odds Against Tomorrow gives us a triple dose of the latter but breaks the familiar mold by offering up sympathetic women like Shelley Winters, as the caring girlfriend who'll do anything legal to keep her man (Robert Ryan) and Kim Hamilton, as Harry Belafonte's exasperated ex-wife. The classic femme fatale role is given a nod by Gloria Grahame, who plays the saucy little tart who lives next door to Ryan and only drops by when she knows his girlfriend is out.

What distinguishes this crime/caper film is the way the script takes its time to develop the three principals (Ed Begley, the disgraced ex-cop who never got his due; Robert Ryan, the aging failure and battler who has to prove himself and Harry Belafonte, the gambling addict whose debts have just come due with a vengeance) and shows how they are driven by greed and desperation to take on a bank heist - one they think will be a pushover - and how fate intervenes when they do. The film cagily holds off on most of the action until the end, building tension as we see individual lives grow before our eyes then start to collide as Begley plays ringmaster to two men who react to each other like a lit match to gasoline. Ryan, the rabid racist, makes a dangerous cohort when forced to work with a black man, as the ending shows in incendiary fashion.

Also to watch for are Wayne Rogers' film debut as the brazen young soldier who likes to show off his fighting prowess in bars and the scenes where the three principals encounter very young kids. The latter scenes surely tell us something as they display the contrast between the naive, innocent children and the bitter, desperate men who seem so fond of them, as if looking back on their own youth and a less troubled time in their lives.

This film was introduced to me as a "jazz film" and indeed it features a fine score from jazz composer John Lewis, the long-time pianist of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Belafonte does some nice jazz work of his own as a nightclub singer and vibraphonist and members of his band are played by some famous real-life jazzmen. Odds Against Tomorrow stands out for its performances, script and the important place it holds in film history as the last of its distinguished kind.

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New Jersey Drive (1995)

7/10

Bad boys, bad cops, decent movie

5 March 2006

This movie brings to mind "Boys 'n the Hood," "Menace to Society," "South Central" and others of its ilk and even shares actors with some of them. The film's "us vs. the law" mentality is underscored by the all-black neighborhood vs. the nearly all-white police force. Here the cops are so bad they seem like caricatures and in one scene they even ambush the boys as they drive by in a car they've just "liberated" from its owner. It's like a bushwhacking from an old Western, but the contemporary setting makes it look all too real.

The story centers on young Jason Petty and his buddies, to whom school is just an inconvenience that takes time away from their "real occupation" of boosting cars. This happens to be Newark, N.J., a rust-belt city low on jobs but notoriously high on crime. In fact the problem is so severe that the cops all have "Car Theft" written on their backs, to show that an entire unit must be devoted to this particular crime.

The boys use a "slim Jim" to gleefully break into cars and go joy-riding, as if it's no big deal. They only run into real trouble when the police ambush them. The vicious, Nazi-like Lt. has a vendetta against the boys, seeing them not as human beings who might be worthy of redemption, but as human targets. In fact, he's a little reminiscent of that sadistic Nazi officer of the Warsaw ghetto, who shot down Jews for pleasure in the film "Schindler's List." When the boys steal a police car in retribution for the ambush, things predictably go downhill fast. They are severely beaten by the cops and Jason finally ends up in prison. Clearly these are "bad boys," who'd steal your car in a minute, but the film wants us to see them as anti-heroes, showing Jason protecting his sister and his friend taking care of his own grandmother. The film left us wondering whose side to take and who to feel sadder for: the boys whose lives are going down the drain, the honest citizens whose cars are being stolen left and right and who could be caught in the crossfire of a shootout at any moment or the city of Newark itself, the spirit of whose law is being betrayed by brutal, soul-dead cops.

In spite of the over-the-top portrayal of the latter, the film offers a realistic-looking rendering of the ghetto, of the protagonists and their families and of the culture of car theft in a city where there appears to be only 2 career paths - law enforcement and crime. Strangely, the entire subject of drugs is never mentioned.

The filmmakers (including producer Spike Lee) are obviously biased against the Newark police, who, we hope, are not as bad they are portrayed here. Nevertheless, they've given us yet another a strong, affecting story about the inner city and black youth gone awry and Sharron Corley is fine as Jason.

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Apartment 12 (2000)

6/10

Jackson Pollack He's Not ...

2 March 2006

Alex is a painter, each of whose canvases is just one big window-sized slab of yellow (or red, or whatever color it happens to be). Not only his art but his life lacks inspiration: his one-man show is not to be, his girlfriend just walked out, he's moved into a building full of oddballs and he's back delivering pizza to pay the rent. I expected this flick to turn into a sitcom, but it got better as it went along, developing characters and relationships, especially the one between artsy liberal snob Alex and his new neighbor Lori, whose magnum pistol, martial arts skills and utter lack of sophistication generate the contempt he has for her, despite the fact that they're having a physical relationship. Throw in the wacky neighbors, like the bathrobe-clad Lothario/one-man Greek Chorus who wanders the halls and delivers his observations in Spanish, the super-nosy super, the big-busted strip-o-gram girl, the horny, man-devouring Biddie and a couple of others and you've got funny and touching portraits of a by turns lovable and unlovable loser and the colorful characters in his orbit. Don't know why, exactly, but this story reminded me a bit of Steve Buscemi's terrific "Tree's Lounge" - another indie about a loser and his odd pals. This one's cute and it's got a happier ending. For the price of your admission you get "early" Mark Ruffalo (2001) in an affecting role and cute, largely unknown Beth Ulrich, who's a find.

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The Corner (2000)

Now I know this place!

28 February 2006

Living just outside Baltimore, I've driven through the corner of Fayette and Monroe streets more than once; I've seen and felt its ugly presence, but never really knew the place. It consists mostly of slums and you pray your car doesn't break down here. I read the area was a prosperous, middle-class neighborhood not so long ago, but now it looks as though everything of value has been torn out of it and that's because it has. Once you've seen Charles S. Dutton's "The Corner," you'll understand just what this corner is and how it got that way. What's more, you will never be able to forget it.

Gary McCullough is the living symbol of The Corner: he used to drive a Mercedes, had a good job, invested his money well and could have had a comfortable life in the suburbs. He had money to burn and that's just what he did with it: he married Fran, a junkie, and they probably both thought she was only a "recreational user" until they fell, individually and as a family. Now they're the most miserable, wretched addicts imaginable, with nothing to show for their lives, existing only for the next fix. To get drug money Gary and his friends have employed every scam they could think of, from shoplifting and stealing cars to stripping every retrievable piece of metal from every building around and selling it for scrap. The McCulloughs' son DeAndre is only 15 but headed straight for the same oblivion: he's stopped going to school and he sells drugs on the street with his friends. He's still young and healthy, but give him time - he'll become a user and end up like his parents.

The Corner sucks you in, so they say - it takes everything and gives back nothing. Many of the once-well-kept homes have turned into shooting galleries, where ghost-like beings lie about with open sores, wanting nothing from life (and having nothing) but their next drug high. Oh, the McCulloughs try to right themselves - Fran goes for treatment, Gary temporarily holds a job and DeAndre promises he'll go back to school (anything to avoid being sent to "juvie" with the violent "D.C. kids.") But Fran and Gary slip back and DeAndre's sporadic "education" consists largely of playing basketball and reading a Martin Luther King speech aloud. Worse is yet to come, for rival gangs will try to shoot DeAndre and his drug-selling pals off the street and Gary will eventually succumb to an overdose. Only Fran, her will and endurance tested to its limits, will detox and return to work and a life of sobriety, trying to rescue DeAndre in the process.

This series is based on the people who actually live on The Corner of Fayette and Monroe and uses their real names. It's done in mock-documentary style and director Dutton even interviews the real McCulloughs at the end, bringing a kind of closure no mere fiction could hope to attain. Just as powerful as the story is the cast. T.K. Carter as Gary, Sean Nelson as DeAndre and Khandi Alexander as Fran are simply splendid (as is the rest of the cast) and they bring a gripping and terrible poignancy to their roles. Reading David Simon's "The Corner," on which the miniseries was based, only made me appreciate Dutton's achievement more. This is as powerful a drama as you're ever likely to see and should become a true American classic. It is a biting, awful and only-too-true story of American cities like Baltimore and what drugs have done to them. Now that I've seen "The Corner," I feel I finally know The intersection of Fayette and Monroe -and every open-air drug market like it - for what it really is.

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Tough Luck (2003)

7/10

Round and round she goes ...

23 February 2006

This is a quirky heist/caper film, one that seems predictable at first then keeps surprising until the last scene. The protagonist is a grifter who goes to work in a little carnival, where he's paid to kill the manager's belly dancer wife Divana then ends up falling for her himself. She's alluring, tricky and deadly and she keeps disappearing and popping up again like some sort of magician's trick. The film's other props include her duplicitous husband/employer (played by the talented Armand Assante), some nasty Dominican mobsters and most important to the plot, a suitcase full of money. Just like the old "shell game," the one where you have to guess which one the pea's under, you'll be guessing who's got the money, and like the victims of the hucksters who run such games, you'll probably guess wrong. Dagma Dominczyk, as lovely Divana, is a talented performer and an eyeful, whether she's dancing with the huge snake around her shoulders or working her grift on all the unfortunate men in her orbit. Norman Reedus is fine as the young con who is flummoxed by the elusive beauty he was paid to kill. Don't count him out, however, for he turns out to be smarter than anyone gave him credit for. This oddball film is worth a look.

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BUtterfield 8 (1960)

Good girl , bad girl

19 February 2006

Warning: Spoilers

This film starts with the famous scene where Liz Tayor wakes up alone, finds $250 for her "night's work" and a note asking "Enough?" then throws the money away along with her dress, scrawls "No Sale" in lipstick across the mirror, tries on her lover's wife's sumptuous mink coat and leaves wearing it over nothing but a slip. It's an ambitious and striking beginning to what's an odd kind of soaper, one with a different plot and decent performances all around.

There is a major misconception that Liz' character Gloria is a prostitute, but she makes it clear she's looking for control and eventually love, not money and when she sobs "I took MONEY!" near the end, it's apparent it was a one-time thing (and mixed up with love, her real goal) and that she's what we'd call today a party girl or a player. Her confession about being an abused 13-year-old ("I LIKED it!!!") also makes it plain her sex life started early, though without her consent and that her emotionally confused life was thrust upon her. Determined never to be abused again, she's modeled dresses and dated successful men, always in control of them until bored, married Laurence Harvey finally makes her fall in love. He's basically a rich failure, propped up by his wife's money and a figure-head job in her family's chemical company. He's drifting, just like aimless, amoral Gloria.

Gloria finally tells her shrink "I'm in love," obviously thinking love will conquer all, while the doc cautions her to keep his number handy, just in case "it's not everything you hope it is." The love affair ends badly for all, as a nervous, unsure Harvey insults and leaves Gloria, treating her like the cheap whore she's always been afraid of becoming. He comes back the next morning, pleading to marry her, but by then it's too late: Gloria's made a life-changing decision to move away and start over. As Harvey chases her down the highway a tragic accident takes her from him forever. Back at home, Harvey tells his wife he's going out to "find his dignity" and that if she's still there when he returns they may still have something to talk about.

Are these characters believable? Some may see Harvey's wife as so understanding as to strain credulity but Dina Merril's stoic performance gives her a kind of dignity as she patiently waits for her husband to find himself. Harvey and Gloria make an odd couple, but it seems fair to say that real life is full of stranger characters than these.

What's usually overlooked is the frequently-witty script and dialog. Cat fights abound, with a fusillade of barbs directed at bad-girl Gloria from her mother's judgmental best friend (Betty Field) and from the jealous girlfriend (Susan Oliver) of Gloria's childhood pal Steve (Eddie Fisher). The "main course," (of course, of course) is the constantly shifting pas-de-deux between star-crossed lovers Gloria and Ligett (Laurence Harvey). Not only did Liz Taylor win an Oscar for this film, but the movie plays on the real-life drama of pop singer/superstar Eddie Fisher, who left America's Sweetheart - actress Debbie Reynolds - (and daughter Carrie Fisher) for Liz Taylor. Given Taylor's real-life role as a home wrecker at this time, her being cast as a slut in this film seems inevitable and makes one wonder if Taylor could have even gotten the part without it. Just to be sure that absolutely no one could miss the connection to the real-life love triangle, Fisher's on-screen girlfriend Susan Oliver is made up to look as much like Debbie Reynolds as possible. At first we weren't sure we wanted to see this picture again, but from the striking opening scene on we found it intriguing. Eddie Fisher was no thespian and Susan Oliver isn't given much of a part but Laurence Harvey, Liz Taylor and Dina Merrill bring this "old chestnut" to life.

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Desperate for Love (1989 TV Movie)

5/10

Did he or didn't he?

11 February 2006

I stumbled onto this while channel surfing and after sampling a few minutes I didn't want to turn it off. The all-too-familiar love triangle theme is played out with two best friends in high school, torn apart by sultry sexpot and fellow classmate Lily, who'll do anything (and any one) to get her out of this hick town. She bounces back and forth between confident jock Alex and his shy pal Cliff, who's always there to pick up the pieces when Alex lets her down. In spite of the strain Lily puts on their friendship the 2 boys manage to hang through it all - until Alex disappears after a hunting trip with Cliff. When Alex's body is found the police pick up Cliff immediately, as the love triangle was no secret to anyone. Before Cliff's arrest Lily had tried desperately to get him to confess, but to no avail. While almost everything points to Cliff as the culprit, Lily's father should also have been under suspicion, for he had threatened Alex to keep him away from Lily and he's also no slouch with a rifle.

As the shooting was never shown, everyone's in the dark when the murder trial begins, including the audience. Lily's betrayal of gullible Cliff on the witness stand seams to be sealing his fate when he throws his hat in the ring for her yet again and decides to plead guilty to manslaughter to save Lily from further grueling cross-examination on the witness stand. His gallantry earns him 8 years in prison and left me wondering what about the ballistics evidence? The bullet(s) in Alex' body should have pointed to the culprit as the one who's rifle matched the bullets, but such trifles are never mentioned. Thus we never find out for sure who killed Alex, but at least the producers were kind enough to show the terms of Cliff's sentence in the screen credits at the end. And now that the movie's over, who killed Alex? I'm still wondering.

The actors are quite competent and here's a chance to see a very young Christian Slater before he became famous. Tammy Lauren is fetching and believable as the poor "white trash" girl who knows what she's got and how to use it to bring the hormones of teen-aged boys to a boil. As Cliff's attorney for the defense puts it, she thinks she's been spending all her time looking for "L-O-V-E," when the operative word should be "S-E-X." The movies's final scene shows Lily, looking depressed and leaning against the mill where she lured the boys for those "love" trysts. Now she must face her own fate as a pariah, still stuck in this future-less town, knowing she's ruined lives and families. Clearly she's serving out her own sentence, but one feels it isn't long or harsh enough.

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Route 66 (1960–1964)

A one-of-a-kind TV show

2 February 2006

It was 1960, when the country was far less crowded and open roads beckoned just outside the cities. This was before the country lost its innocence via Vietnam and Watergate, a time when the rest of the world bought our manufactured goods and America had saved the world from Hitler and fascism within recent memory.

Cynicism and paranoia hadn't yet taken hold, many people would actually stop to help if your car broke down on the highway and altruism was a viable concept on TV and in real life. Into this world rode 2 young guys in a Corvette convertible (Corvettes were still somewhat exotic at the time), who met unusual people everywhere they went, which was all over the USA and even Canada. The two young men were total opposites, who made a fascinating personality clash and a winning pair of adventurers and Good Samaritans. Dark-haired Buz Murdock (played by George Maharis) was the brooder and battler with street smarts, who spoke like the hep-cat and jazz buff he was, while sophisticated, red-haired Yale grad Tod Stiles (Martin Milner) quoted literature and poetry, charmed the ladies and handled his share of the bullies. Sometimes the two boys were the center of the stories, other times just onlookers.

The dramatic, socially-conscious scripts met the tough issues head-on, from runaway kids and juvenile delinquency (this was long before young kids routinely carried guns to school) to substance abuse, terrorism and mercy killing. The quality of the scripts demanded high-powered acting, which it got from its stars Maharis and Milner and the impressive list of guest stars, including Rob't Duvall, Rob't Redford, Lee Marvin, Ed Asner, Martin Balsam, Alan Alda, Janice Rule and Jack Warden, to name only a few.

"Route 66" was so progressive socially because its producer (Herbert Leonard) allowed his chief writer (Stirling Silliphant) to tackle just about any subject he wanted, with no interference from the network or sponsors - a very unusual situation, even in 1960. There are so many out-of-the-ordinary elements in this show it's hard to list them all and in retrospect it seems like a kind of avant-garde television, with 100% location filming, travelogue, adventure and even a sort of Playhouse-90-like dramatic quality, all rolled into one. Perhaps the show's most striking element was the remarkable dialog, usually relegated to the guest actors, which often took the form of meditations on life or the ruminations of demoralized characters forced to confront their demons. This dialog can be seen today as nothing less than brilliant free-verse poetry, into which (future Oscar-winning Hollywood screenwriter) Silliphant poured his deepest thoughts. Looking back it seems remarkable such a show was ever made at all. Having written a book on this program, I've come to know "Route 66" quite well and feel privileged to have watched it.

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Illtown (1996)

3/10

What's wrong with this picture?

24 January 2006

This story of murder and betrayal among drug dealers gets suitably gritty treatment from the writer and director, but unfortunately the whole thing seems out of focus, like one long drug-induced haze. Michael Rappaport plays Dante, a dealer who delivers his illegal wares to the disco crowd of south Florida via the high-school-aged punks who work the streets for him. Dante's life starts to spin out of control when said punks betray him to strike out on their own, leading to the murder of one of them and ending with Dante having to fight for his life when a rival sends his own gang of vicious kids after him. There are some good shootouts, warm interplay between Dante, his wife and Dante's right-hand man and many dream sequences, as Rappaport and Company recall happier days, which are increasingly in stark contrast to the reality around them.

What throws the movie off its narrative track are the extended slo-mo's, too many of the afore-mentioned dream sequences, the total lack of any human beings in sight except drug dealers and the baffling scenes where Tony Danza, as Dante's drug overlord, talks a little like an Eastern guru giving life lessons in metaphors. Wouldn't such a man - whose power would be backed by fear and violence - be screaming "Where is my f___ing money? and I'll kill you!" when one of one of his dealers (Dante) suddenly stops bringing in the money? What's frustrating about this film is the fact that when it works (gritty environs, vivid shootouts, nice supporting performances by Lili Taylor, Adam Trese and Kevin Corrigan) it's good, but when it's over you don't know what happened to Dante (the movie ends on one of its many dream sequences) and you feel like you've nodded off for an hour and a half and dreamed something about drug dealers in south Florida, but you can't remember what.

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Center Stage (2000)

9/10

A Fine Film About Dance

19 January 2006

Critics love the phrase "by the numbers" when referring to a movie like this for its familiar characters and plot line, but such clichés don't tell you how enjoyable the whole thing is or how well the more-or-less predictable characters come together to make a thoroughly entertaining movie. Any story about competitions, auditions and performing arts academies recalls "Fame" and others of its ilk (and nothing wrong with that) but this one stands out for its terrific dancing, decent acting and competent script. Stunningly cute real-life ballet dancer Amanda Schull plays against type as a fumble-footed wannabee in the American Ballet Academy and ballet star Ethan Stiefel, as the precocious, womanizing star of the Academy, performs spectacular moves in various dance genres. The final production number is especially entertaining in the way it merges ballet with modern dance, gives Schull a chance to shine in the spotlight and allows Stiefel and fellow ballet prodigy Sascha Redetsky ample scope to show off their athletic, acrobatic leaps and spins. If you're like me, you'll want a copy of this one on your shelf.

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Fresh (1994)

10/10

A Tale of Two Street Kids

6 December 2005

It's interesting to note how two people react to the same set of circumstances; one shrewdly navigates his way to the top, the less clever one runs smack into every obstacle, finding only destruction and death. Fresh is a black 13-year-old budding chess master and fledgling drug runner who uses his gift for strategy and guile to turn the city's toughest drug dealers against one other, as he checkmates them all to save himself and his drug-addicted sister - a thrall to one of them. Meanwhile brash Chucky, the same age as Fresh, assumes the macho posturing and tough talk of the street hoods, brazenly announcing "I bustin' the DOPE moves! I bustin' the STUPID moves!" as he wears his cap backwards, stuffs a gun inside his sweat pants and swaggers like the drug dealers he seeks to emulate, only to be mowed down like a blade of grass the first time he tries to "run" a batch of drugs.

I saw this one in the theater and noted how the audience cracked up at foolish Chucky and his antics. What I noticed even more was writer and director Boaz Yakin's smart script and how he deftly mixes Fresh's school, home and street scenes with those in the city's "chess square," where Fresh meets his alcoholic chess-bum father, a noted master, for timed "speed matches," a ritual which gives Fresh the ability to remain cool under the most intense pressure and the smarts to win his deadly duel with the drug dealers who want to turn him into one of them.

Sean Nelson is superb as a young boy who literally lives by his wits, as only his smarts and nerves of steel can save him once he sets himself against the murderous thugs he works for. Samuel L. Jackson is terrific as the wayward father who lives only for chess, while Giancarlo Esposito is a standout as the coke dealer who "has it all" until his desire for Fresh's sister pits him against the 13-year-old genius who easily outwits everyone except his father. Special mention go to Jean-Claude La Marre, as vicious drug dealer Jake, and N'Bushe Wright, as Fresh's heroin-addict sister. What's so unusual about this movie is how it translates chess into a "game of life," where the strategy of feints and checks with mere game board pieces becomes the model for a boy's real-life battle to stay alive against some of the worst people imaginable. This is a very special picture - powerful, unusual and very well acted.

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What the #$*! Do We (K)now!? (2004)

What's the big idea?

27 November 2005

This unusual picture tackles head-on the bizarre world of quantum physics and tries to meld it with mysticism and religion in its attempt to approach ultimate questions like "Why are we here?" and "What are the tiniest building blocks of the universe?" In so doing it intertwines speculation from physicists, doctors and philosopher/mystics with an everyday story featuring Marlee Matlin as a hearing-impaired young woman coping with life's problems. Having read a good deal about quantum mechanics, I was amazed that any movie made for popular consumption would even approach such a subject, one which not a single physicist can claim to truly understand.

The film uses graphics to illustrate the realm of the subatomic world, in which nothing can be said to be in any definite state until it encounters another piece of matter. In approaching quantum mechanics I think the filmmakers would have done well to mention one of the most famous experiments in all physics, in which light shining through 2 holes and onto a screen creates alternating lighter and darker interference bands, proving that light travels as a wave (waves interfere with each other), until one places a particle detector at one of the 2 holes, at which point the light-dark interference bands disappear and the light suddenly and bafflingly becomes single points (particles). It was this experiment which confirmed the wave/point duality of light, the exasperating fact that only when we "look" at subatomic matter does it assume any definite state and the inescapable conclusion that the subatomic world is one whose deepest structure even the world's greatest minds still cannot grasp.

One may admire the temerity of the filmmakers for assuming audiences can absorb such mind-bending concepts and at the same time castigate them for at temping to meld physics and metaphysics, for science is a never-ending process of testing and re-evaluation, while astrology, mysticism and all "belief-based systems" have only faith to sustain them. Relativity and quantum mechanics need no "explantion" or reason to believe in them other than the fact they are among science's most successful theories and have proved themselves over and over by such instruments as telescopes and particle accelerators. The precepts of quantum physics, in fact, led to the transistor and all of today's micro-processor-based electronics. Thus, science and mysticism have little to do with one another and attempting to mix them leads to muddled thinking rather than clarity.

In spite of the above reservations I feel "What the Bleep" deserves some credit. Since most movies offer nothing but entertainment and much of it mindless at that, this film explores concepts that are probably new territory to most viewers. The filmmakers may have intended the metaphysics as a way to introduce the quantum world to audiences whose minds have been conditioned by a lifetime of religion rather than science. At any rate, this picture should provide a glimpse into new worlds for many viewers and may even prove to be an "enlightening experience" - pun intended.

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Virtual Nightmare (2000 TV Movie)

6/10

Arresting Made-for-TV Sci-Fi Movie

26 November 2005

No, this isn't "Robocop" and by "arresting" we mean it held our attention when so many made-for-TV sci-fi efforts send us scurrying for the remote. The world-as-virtual-reality theme isn't brand new, tho' this film beats the Matrix pictures to the idea by several years. What impressed us was the way that idea is executed, in that residents of a small, desert community only see the pretty, neat little town around them, when it's just an illusion, broadcast to the populace by a local transmitting station. One day a successful young exec starts noticing cracks in the virtual facade and begins to discover what is real and what isn't with the help of a plucky librarian. The reality, when they find it, comes as a shock to protagonists and viewers.

There are really 2 virtual realities in this world: the pretty facade most see and a horribly grubby one deliberately beamed to those jaded souls who seem to think things are supposed to look that way. The "real world," when it's finally revealed, seems half way between the two illusions, in that everything seems to be beige, pre-fab and of unimaginable blandness. We weren't sure if all the virtual realities made sense even in the context of the story, like when the hero first notices his little town isn't what it seems, he sees the horribly grubby "reality" instead of the merely bland one the ending reveals to be the truth, but all in all, for sci-fi fans, this film is entertaining and worth a look.

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Hard Times (1975)

8/10

Top character actors, outstanding fight scenes

24 November 2005

I still recall the TV ads for "Hard Times," which promised what I imagined would be a decent, fisticuff-studded B-movie, but nothing memorable. I can't even recall if I saw this picture back in '75, so why can't I stop watching it now? Maybe it's the realistic, movie-exciting fights (real fights are so much slower placed and less interesting), maybe it's Bronson, who actually has the physique of a terror-of-the-bare-knuckle ring, even if he's long in the tooth. Maybe it's the dead-on character portrayals from James Coburn, as Bronson's slick, snide, exasperating "manager," from Strother Martin as the ring doc who disappeared from medical school "under a cloud," from Jill Ireland as Bronson's down-but-not-out girlfriend, from Robert Tessier as bare-knuckle champion Big Jim Henry, from huge, imposing movie stuntman Nick Dimitri, as Bronson's final and most formidable ring opponent and from the other actors who play an assortment of characters caught up in the seamy New Orleans underworld. Bronson delivers not just punches but a winning performance and all these elements come together to make not just a fine fight film but an insightful portrait of some Depression-era New Orleans denizens, brought together by a mysterious hobo and boxer, who literally can't be beat.

Whatever my sympathies for the cast, script and story line, special kudos have to go to the fight scenes, which progress from brief but powerful to the final, full-fledged battles against Big Jim Henry and the intimidating kick-boxer played by Dimitri. Having watched every fight film I could find over the years and being a lifelong boxing fan to boot, Hard Times has, in my opinion, the best and most realistic fight scenes ever filmed. The brawl with Jim Henry shows how hand speed, left-right-left combinations and pure punching power can destroy a much larger opponent, while the final, epic battle with Dimitri's character is the sine qua non of movie fights, so real it'll make your stomach tighten, but staged in good taste, with just enough blood to make it pass for the real thing. This one's a sleeper - and a winner

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Once Were Warriors (1994)

10/10

Powerful Story and a Bravura Performance

22 November 2005

In 1995 I tuned in a talk show and saw New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison being interviewed about this movie, which was getting terrific reviews, so I took myself out to see it. I was impressed by the powerful story and the entire cast but completely amazed by Morrison, who dominates the screen with his searing performance. He plays a descendant of the once-mighty Maoris of New Zealand, whom modern times have reduced to the squalor of urban poverty. Like his Maori pals, Morrison's character goes on the public dole, idling his time away drinking and carousing at his favorite bar, where he fights with the savage fury of his warrior ancestors. At home he's a "good-time Charlie," who sings and strums his guitar for a house full of friends until provocation turns him into a beast again, raging and becoming physically abusive to his long-suffering wife and children. The sheer energy Morrison brings to his role is awesome, but what makes this performance so special is the huge, tender-to-terrifying range of emotions he commands. He makes you feel the frustration of a powerful man who starts to "lose it" when things don't go his way and whose strength and attempts at intimidation only make things worse. Clearly he's a perfect symbol for modern Maoris, whose elaborate tattoos, pumped-up physiques and fierce temperament at once embody the warrior ways and put them at odds with modern times. This is a must-see movie. Sci-fi fans may recognize Morrison as bounty hunter Bobba Fett from the "Star Wars" films, tho' he's quite a bit heavier in "Warriors."

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The Great Gatsby (1974)

8/10

Who says money can't buy love?

21 August 2005

Dramatis Personae:

Tom and Daisy Buchanan: super-rich inhabitants of the Hamptons

Jay Gatsby: filthy-rich neighbor and playboy - he wants Daisy

Nick Carraway: narrator, Gatsby's neighbor, Daisy's cousin

One critic said "Lacks dash" about this movie but I say "With dash it's loaded!" If "dash" means style, panache and color then this film has it in spades, from the production values (note Gatsby's marvelous parties and the sumptuous dwellings inhabited by him and the Buchanans) to the all-star casting. To wit: Redford makes a wonderfully enigmatic Gatsby, while Mia Farrow as vain, idle Daisy, gushes her enthusiasm at seeing old friend Nick again like a child contemplating a triple-decker ice cream cone. She's similarly emotive when she tells philandering husband Tom "You're revolting!" Bruce Dern, as ex-college football star Tom, nicely conveys the haughtiness of his privileged life and a just-below-the-surface anger and physicality, which erupts when he's squeezed between his on-the-side sweetie and Daisy, who threatens to leave him for Gatsby.

This story, like its recurring symbol - the green light at the end of Daisy's pier (that Gastby watches like it's the North star) - is about hopes and dreams, even the ones we think we've found that are "already past us." The hope is Gatsby's - that he could become rich enough (and thereby desirable enough in his mind) to possess his true love Daisy. Jay Gatz realized his ambition of "success," even changing his name to Gatsby in the process, thereby making of himself the American dream - the poor boy who made good. Unfortunately for him, with his lifelong goal of having Daisy seemingly at his fingertips he lost everything, including his life, but in so doing revealed what he really was: part fake (wealthy by illegal activities), part dreamer, part great romantic whose ambition knew no bounds and lastly a hero, as he died protecting Daisy from her complicity in a hit-and-run accident.

Whether F. Scott Fitzgerald meant the title "The Great Gatsby" sarcastically or not, Jay Gatz became everything the title implies and this film version beautifully brings the characters and their era to life. Also worth noting is Sam Waterston as observer and one-man-Greek-chorus Nick Carraway, whose moving, straight-from-the-book closing narration sums up both Gatsby and maybe a little of ourselves, along with our own lost dreams.

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Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)

Not exactly history, but a fine story and acting

20 August 2005

Critics have taken Brando to task for his "bizarre interpretation of Fletcher Christian" and fellow amateur film reviewers have called his performance one-dimensional, but such comments make we wonder if we saw the same movie. This film contains standout performances by Brando and by Trevor Howard as the captain who reveled in "the whistle of the whip." Howard is so vivid he makes you fear both him and the awful lash with which he splatters his crew's blood.

The revisionist film "The Bounty" may present a more historically accurate version of Bligh and Christian, but it's hard to beat Brando's film for sheer entertainment. Anyone who calls Brando's portrayal of Fletcher Christian "one-dimensional" has missed what he reveals here: 1) his colorful turn as lavishly-festooned dandy who thinks Bligh is someone to be trifled with via verbal sparring 2) his growing struggle with his conscience, as he weighs how much human misery and death can be tolerated before he gives in to what he terms "honor" 3) the crushing weight he bears after the mutiny, not only from his new responsibility as captain and doomed fugitive who will surely be hunted down by the British navy, but as British officer and gentleman who's made an incredible sacrifice by giving up his rank and life of privilege.

Brando seamlessly and beautifully manages the character transition from fop to martyr for the cause of humanity. Far from being the start of his decline, I find this one of his most colorful and accomplished performances. The verbal exchanges between ramrod-stiff Bligh and supercilious Fletcher alone are worth the price of admission.

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Briar Patch (2002)

8/10

Be careful what you wish for!

7 August 2005

Young, pretty and dirt poor, Inez Macbeth lives in a squalid shack in the boonies, suffering the abuse of her criminal husband Edgar and the unwanted attentions of Edgar's repulsive, slow-witted partner Flowers, who slavers over her like a starved dog contemplating a steak bone. Inez runs around barefoot, dirty and frequently bloody from the beatings she receives from Edgar, who even chains her up. She lives only for her trips to town, where she visits a "licensed, semi-professional spiritual adviser" and her kindly and wealthy lover Drew, who plans to take her away with him.

After one particularly brutal beating by Edgar, Inez schemes to have willing dupe Flowers murder her husband and then take the blame for it himself, so she can run off with Drew. In the fallout from Edgar's murder Inez is freed of her husband, all right and even the police are happy to be rid of this criminal low-life, but Flowers turns out to be far more clever than expected, for he frames innocent, unfortunate Drew, leaving Inez with no where to go and no one to turn to, as Flowers finally takes her for himself.

This is a strong film about entrapment, desire and the wages of sin, with a good script and fine acting. Dominique Swain gives an affecting performance, managing to be sexy and fetching even under all that blood and dirt. Edgar and Flowers seem like real people - multi-dimensional and not the kind of one-sided, cardboard-cutout psychos found so often in movies. This picture is so gritty and realistic it may not suit all tastes but I highly recommend it - you may find it as powerful as I did.

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Return to Peyton Place (1961)

7/10

An underrated sequel that's worth a look, especially for writers

18 March 2005

After reading a feature article about Grace Metalious (the 1950's "Pandora in blue jeans") in the Baltimore Sun a few years ago, I read "Peyton Place" twice and then watched both the original film and this sequel. I'd seen the latter in the theater when it first came out and it's funny what time and your own experiences can do to an old film like "Return." Having become a writer myself, I was fascinated by Jeff Chandler as the editor who tells Allison MacKenzie what it takes to become a real writer, not just a talented kid with an idea. Chandler's constant reference to a great editor (I suspect the man he refers to was based on a real-life editor) who MADE such talented wannabes into writers by giving their books shape and direction and Chandler's tutelage of Allison made "Return to Peyton Place" fascinating to me. Fans of the original "Peyton Place" will have to adjust to the change of cast, but this sequel has its own strong performers, like Mary Astor as a domineering mother and Carol Lynley, her beauty in full bloom and quite competent as Allison. I thought Gunnar Helstrom also stood out and this entire effort is worth a look.

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Snowbound: The Jim and Jennifer Stolpa Story (1994 TV Movie)

8/10

True story that's so harrowing it's hard to believe

30 January 2005

All the saccharine, lovey-dovey stuff at the start almost made me turn this movie off, but now I see that the screenwriter was just trying to show us the strong bonds that helped three people survive an unbelievable ordeal. Things started moving quickly as the father, taking his young family to join the rest of the clan, ignored weather reports and drove through a blizzard. The snow got worse and worse and finally they were stranded in the middle of nowhere. Their struggles to stay alive kept me awake when a lot of movies would have left me sleeping at the hour when this film was broadcast. I kept saying to myself "No one could survive this long in the bitter cold." Adding to the tension were the decisions: do they stay in the SUV, which offered shelter, but where they will eventually freeze, or do all three brave the elements and face a much surer and sooner extinction, with only the slim chance of finding help? Once they've made that fateful choice, which way do they walk and what if they pick the wrong way? Does father leave wife and baby to freeze in a cave while he's asked to walk 50 miles with frost-bitten feet to get help? Seven days in the cold seems too much for anyone, much less a baby, but somehow all 3 survived it. I wouldn't have believed any of it had I not known it was all true. Good acting, especially from Kelli Williams of TV's "The Practice" series. I can recommend this movie.

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